A study on pregnant women showed how oxytocin increases the processing of social information in the left auditory cortex of the brain. The researchers conducted a series of experiments in adult female mice and their pups and found there is an abundance of oxytocin receptors in the left auditory cortex of the brain. Through the use of an antibody that binds to oxytocin receptor proteins on neurons, the team was able to monitor how oxytocin affects each brain cell. They found that levels of the hormone in adult female mice increased in response to their pups' distress calls. It blocks inhibitory signals, regulating the amount of social information processed by each brain cell in this region and influencing how mothers respond to their pups' calls.

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