Highly read on jneurosci.org in November

Men in monogamous relationships keep their distance from good-looking women after receiving nasal puffs of oxytocin — the human hormone that has been linked to romantic attraction — whereas single men do not.

René Hurlemann at the University of Bonn, Germany, and his colleagues recruited 86 heterosexual men who were either single or in stable monogamous relationships. The volunteers were asked to choose how close to stand to female or male experimenters, or to perform a similar task using photographs. Compared with single men and partnered men who had received a placebo, partnered men given oxytocin stood 10–15 centimetres farther away from women they deemed attractive, and approached pictures of attractive women more slowly. No effect was seen with the male experimenters.

The authors suggest that oxytocin could help to maintain fidelity in romantic relationships.

J. Neurosci. 32, 16074–16079 (2012)