Promiscuity in an evolved pair-bonding system: Mating within and outside the Pleistocene box

2005 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 290-291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynn Carol Miller ◽  
William C. Pedersen ◽  
Anila Putcha-Bhagavatula
Keyword(s):  
Pair Bonding ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Early Menarche ◽  
Bonding System ◽  
Pair Bonds ◽  
Bonding Mechanisms ◽  
Similar Pair

Across mammals, when fathers matter, as they did for hunter-gatherers, sex-similar pair-bonding mechanisms evolve. Attachment fertility theory can explain Schmitt's and other findings as resulting from a system of mechanisms affording pair-bonding in which promiscuous seeking is part. Departures from hunter-gatherer environments (e.g., early menarche, delayed marriage) can alter dating trajectories, thereby impacting mating outside of pair-bonds.

Interpersonal Neural Synchronization during Interpersonal Touch Underlies Affiliative Pair Bonding between Romantic Couples

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuhang Long ◽  
Lifen Zheng ◽  
Hui Zhao ◽  
Siyuan Zhou ◽  
Yu Zhai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Near Infrared ◽  
Vocal Communication ◽  
Romantic Love ◽  
Pair Bonding ◽  
Romantic Couples ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Neural Synchronization ◽  
Interpersonal Touch ◽  
Pair Bonds ◽  
Opposite Sex

Abstract Interpersonal touch plays a key role in creating and maintaining affiliative pair bonds in romantic love. However, the neurocognitive mechanism of interpersonal touch in affiliative pair bonding remains unclear. Here, we hypothesized that interpersonal neural synchronization (INS) during interpersonal touch underlies affiliative pair bonding between romantic couples. To test this hypothesis, INS between heterosexual romantic couples and between opposite-sex friends was measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy-based hyperscanning, while the pairs of participants touched or vocally communicated with each other. The results showed significantly greater INS between the mentalizing and sensorimotor neural systems of two members of a pair during interpersonal touch than during vocal communication between romantic couples but not between friends. Moreover, touch-induced INS was significantly correlated with the self-reported strength of romantic love. Finally, the results also showed that men’s empathy positively modulated the association between touch-induced INS increase and the strength of romantic love. These findings support the idea that INS during interpersonal touch underlies affiliative pair bonding between romantic couples and suggest that empathy plays a modulatory role in the neurocognitive mechanism of interpersonal touch in affiliative pair bonding.

scholarly journals Mate Attentiveness, Seasonal Timing of Breeding and Long-term Pair Bonding in the House Finch (Carpodacus mexicanus)

Behaviour ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 141 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoffrey Hill ◽  
Kevin McGraw
Keyword(s):  
Pair Bond ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Carpodacus Mexicanus ◽  
Timing Of Breeding ◽  
Pair Bonding ◽  
House Finches ◽  
Breeding Date ◽  
Pair Bonds ◽  
Term Pair

AbstractIn seasonally breeding birds, natural selection favors individuals that begin breeding earlier in a year because they produce more or higher quality offspring than those that begin breeding later. Among the factors that influence the timing of breeding, which include the age, health, competitive ability, or mate quality of individuals, is the longevity of the pair bond, with birds that remain mated across years initiating breeding earlier in the season than newly formed pairs. The behavioural interactions between pair members that may facilitate long-term pair bonding and early breeding onset have infrequently been studied, however. Here we report the relationship between male-female affiliative behaviour, pair-bond duration, and breeding date in house finches (Carpodacus mexicanus), a short-lived, socially monogamous passerine species in which the duration of pair bonds is highly variable within and among seasons. Finches that initiated breeding earliest in the season were those that had bred with one another in previous years. Early breeding males from returning pairs maintained significantly closer contact with their mate during the first egg-laying period of the year than did males from late-breeding, newly formed pairs. Similarly, early-breeding females from returning pairs followed their mate more closely in nest-vicinity flights during the fertile period than females from late-breeding, newly formed pairs. These results suggest that attributes of and interactions between both pair members may help to maintain stable breeding pairs and influence the timing of breeding in seasonally nesting, short-lived songbirds. Rather than advertising for or seeking extra-pair fertilization opportunities, high-quality pairs of finches may invest heavily in their mate to secure the pair bond and ensure high intrapair reproductive success.

scholarly journals Evolution of male strategies with sex-ratio–dependent pay-offs: connecting pair bonds with grandmothering

2017 ◽  
Vol 372 (1729) ◽  
pp. 20170041 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara L. Loo ◽  
Kristen Hawkes ◽  
Peter S. Kim
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Sex Ratio ◽  
Human Evolution ◽  
Paternal Care ◽  
Multiple Mating ◽  
Sex Ratios ◽  
Mate Guarding ◽  
Equation Model ◽  
Pair Bonding ◽  
Pair Bonds

Men's provisioning of mates and offspring has been central to ideas about human evolution because paternal provisioning is absent in our closest evolutionary cousins, the great apes, and is widely assumed to result in pair bonding, which distinguishes us from them. Yet mathematical modelling has shown that paternal care does not readily spread in populations where competition for multiple mates is the common male strategy. Here we add to models that point to the mating sex ratio as an explanation for pairing as pay-offs to mate guarding rise with a male-biased sex ratio. This is of interest for human evolution because our grandmothering life history shifts the mating sex ratio from female- to male-biased. Using a difference equation model, we explore the relative pay-offs for three competing male strategies (dependant care, multiple mating, mate guarding) in response to changing adult sex ratios. When fertile females are abundant, multiple mating prevails. As they become scarce, mate guarding triumphs. The threshold for this shift depends on guarding efficiency. Combined with mating sex ratios of hunter–gatherer and chimpanzee populations, these results strengthen the hypothesis that the evolution of our grandmothering life history propelled the shift to pair bonding in the human lineage. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Adult sex ratios and reproductive decisions: a critical re-examination of sex differences in human and animal societies’.

scholarly journals Emergent intra-pair sex differences and behavioral coordination in pair bonded prairie voles

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liza E. Brusman ◽  
David S. W. Protter ◽  
Allison C. Fultz ◽  
Maya U. Paulson ◽  
Gabriel D. Chapel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Pair Interaction ◽  
Pair Bonding ◽  
Prairie Voles ◽  
Behavioral Correlates ◽  
Behavioral Dynamics ◽  
Pair Bonds ◽  
Socially Monogamous ◽  
Distinct Pair ◽  
Free Interaction

AbstractIn pair bonding animals, coordinated behavior between partners is required for the pair to accomplish shared goals such as raising young. Despite this, experimental designs rarely assess the behavior of both partners within a bonded pair. Thus, we lack an understanding of the interdependent behavioral dynamics between partners that likely facilitate relationship success. To identify intra-pair behavioral correlates of pair bonding, we used socially monogamous prairie voles, a species in which females and males exhibit both overlapping and distinct pair bond behaviors. We tested both partners using social choice and non-choice tests at short- and long-term pairing timepoints. Females developed a preference for their partner more rapidly than males, with preference driven by different behaviors in each sex. Further, as bonds matured, intra-pair behavioral sex differences and coordinated behavior emerged – females consistently huddled more with their partner than males did, and partner huddle time became correlated between partners. When animals were allowed to freely interact with a partner or a novel in sequential free interaction tests, pairs spent more time interacting together than either animal did with a novel. Pair interaction was correlated with female, but not male, behavior. Via a social operant paradigm, we found that pair-bonded females, but not males, are more motivated to access and huddle with their partner than a novel vole. Together, our data indicate that as pair bonds mature, sex differences and coordinated behavior emerge, and that these intra-pair behavioral changes are likely organized and driven by the female animal.

Monogamous Mating System in the Hill Mynah Gracula Religiosa: The Role of Female–Female Aggression

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 134-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manee Archawaranon
Keyword(s):  
Female Aggression ◽  
Breeding Pair ◽  
Pair Bonding ◽  
Pair Bonds ◽  
Term Pair ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Breeding Seasons ◽  
The Hill

This study aimed to discover whether the Hill Mynah Gracula religiosa forms pairs for a single breeding season or engages in long-term pair bonding, and to investigate the role of female aggression in maintaining pair bonds. Experiments were conducted on captive birds in Thailand between 2006 and 2013, and pair behaviours such as allopreening and aggression were observed four times every day. In the first experiment, when each breeding pair was preparing to rear a new clutch, pairs were placed in a new aviary with unfamiliar males and females with which they could potentially form relationships. Results indicated that breeding pairs stayed with the same mates over four continuous breeding seasons (2006–2009) without changing partners or taking additional mates. In a second experiment, the role of female aggression in maintaining long-term pair bonding was examined. Each breeding pair, when preparing to rear a new clutch, was placed in a new aviary with three unfamiliar females. The results showed that female breeders displayed vigorous aggression towards the other three females, forcing them to retreat from the pair; this behaviour was sustained over four continuous breeding seasons (2010–2013). Thus, it is suggested that the Hill Mynah engages in long-term pair bonding and that the aggression of the breeding female is an essential component in the maintenance of pair-bonds.

scholarly journals Oxytocin, Dopamine, and Opioid Interactions Underlying Pair Bonding: Highlighting a Potential Role for Microglia

Endocrinology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 162 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Meredith K Loth ◽  
Zoe R Donaldson
Keyword(s):  
Social Behaviors ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Endogenous Opioids ◽  
Pair Bonding ◽  
Prairie Voles ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Pair Bonds ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
The Social ◽  
Health And Well Being

Abstract Pair bonds represent some of the strongest attachments we form as humans. These relationships positively modulate health and well-being. Conversely, the loss of a spouse is an emotionally painful event that leads to numerous deleterious physiological effects, including increased risk for cardiac dysfunction and mental illness. Much of our understanding of the neuroendocrine basis of pair bonding has come from studies of monogamous prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster), laboratory-amenable rodents that, unlike laboratory mice and rats, form lifelong pair bonds. Specifically, research using prairie voles has delineated a role for multiple neuromodulatory and neuroendocrine systems in the formation and maintenance of pair bonds, including the oxytocinergic, dopaminergic, and opioidergic systems. However, while these studies have contributed to our understanding of selective attachment, few studies have examined how interactions among these 3 systems may be essential for expression of complex social behaviors, such as pair bonding. Therefore, in this review, we focus on how the social neuropeptide, oxytocin, interacts with classical reward system modulators, including dopamine and endogenous opioids, during bond formation and maintenance. We argue that an understanding of these interactions has important clinical implications and is required to understand the evolution and encoding of complex social behaviors more generally. Finally, we provide a brief consideration of future directions, including a discussion of the possible roles that glia, specifically microglia, may have in modulating social behavior by acting as a functional regulator of these 3 neuromodulatory systems.

scholarly journals Prolonged partner separation erodes nucleus accumbens transcriptional signatures of pair bonding in male prairie voles

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie M Sadino ◽  
Xander G Bradeen ◽  
Conor J Kelly ◽  
Deena M Walker ◽  
Zoe R Donaldson
Keyword(s):  
Nucleus Accumbens ◽  
Pair Bond ◽  
Pair Bonding ◽  
Partner Preference ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Prairie Voles ◽  
Pair Bonds ◽  
Transcriptional Changes ◽  
Opposite Sex ◽  
Over Time

The loss of a spouse is often cited as the most traumatic event in a person's life. However, for most people, the severity of grief and its maladaptive effects subside over time via an understudied adaptive process. Like humans, socially monogamous prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster) form opposite-sex pair bonds, and upon partner separation, show behavioral and neuroendocrine stress phenotypes that diminish over time. Eventually, they can form a new bond, a key indicator of adapting to the loss of their partner. Thus, prairie voles provide an ethologically-relevant model for examining neuromolecular changes that emerge following partner separation for adapting to loss. Here, we test the hypothesis that extended partner separation diminishes pair bond-associated behaviors (partner preference and selective aggression) and causes pair bond transcriptional signatures to erode. Pairs were cohoused for 2 weeks and then either remained paired or were separated for 48hrs or 4wks before collecting fresh nucleus accumbens tissue for RNAseq. In a separate cohort, we assessed partner preference and selective aggression at these time points. Surprisingly, pair bond-associated behaviors persist despite prolonged separation and are similar between same-sex and opposite-sex paired voles. In contrast, we found that opposite-sex pair bonding, as compared with same-sex pairing, led to changes in accumbal transcription that were stably maintained as long as animals remained paired but eroded following prolonged partner separation. Eroded genes are primarily associated with gliogenesis and myelination, suggesting a previously undescribed role for glia in maintaining pair bonds and adapting to partner loss. We further reasoned that relevant neuronal transcriptional changes may have been masked by the prominent transcriptional signals associated with glia. Thus, we pioneered neuron-specific translating ribosomal affinity purification in voles. Neuronally-enriched transcriptional changes revealed dopaminergic-, mitochondrial-, and steroid hormone signaling-associated gene clusters whose expression patterns are sensitive to acute pair bond disruption and loss adaptation. Together, our results suggest that partner separation results in erosion of transcriptomic signatures of pair bonding despite core behavioral features of the bond remaining intact, revealing potential molecular processes central to priming a vole to be able to form a new bond.

Male and Female Partner Preferences in a Captive Wolf Pack (Canis Lupus) : Specificity Versus Spread of Sexual Attention

Behaviour ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 132 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 127-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruud R.W.M. Derix ◽  
Jan A.R.A.M. Van Hooff
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Relationships ◽  
Partner Choice ◽  
Pair Bonding ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Partner Preferences ◽  
Care Giving ◽  
Female Preferences ◽  
Pair Bonds ◽  
Sexual Interests

AbstractStrong pair-bonding is typical for canids. In wolf packs consisting of several adult males and females, sexual interests may clash during the mating season. We expect that not only dominance-subordinance relationships but also partner preferences play a prominent role in the establishment of pair bonds in wolves. The objective of our study is to disentangle male and female components in the establishment of sexual relationships, and, in particular, the influence of partner preferences. A first-approach model suggests that males will attempt to maximize the number of fertilizations, whereas females will be selective in partner choice. We therefore determined behavioural measures of partner preference for each sex; namely 'Following sexually' in males and 'Presenting actively' in females. Matings corresponded more to the male than the female preferences. Males initiated courtship, whereas females influenced pair-bonding more by proceptive behaviour and by the rejection of male courtship. Whereas the dominant males focused more on one preferred female at a time, and might eventually switch and direct their preference to another female, the dominant females, and particularly the alpha female, spread their sexual interests over several males and associate with more than one male at a time. The ultimate reason for this might be that, in this way, a female promotes care-giving towards herself and her offspring by creating a 'paternity illusion' in those males.

Mating

The Age of Em ◽  
2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin Hanson
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Time Scales ◽  
Sexual Behaviors ◽  
Pair Bonding ◽  
Pair Bonds ◽  
Related Pair ◽  
Female Pair ◽  
And Gender

How is sex different for ems? As the em world is a very competitive world where sex is not needed for reproduction, and as sex can be time and attention consuming, ems may try to suppress sexuality, via mind tweaks that produce eff ects analogous to castration. Such effects might be temporary, perhaps with a consciously controllable on-off switch. Historically, castrated males have tended to have lower libido, to be less aggressive and obsessive, to be better able to multi-task, and to be more sensitive, sympathetic, and social. However, historically eunuchs have often wanted to marry, and have often had active sex lives ( Aucoin and Wassersug 2006 ; Brett et al. 2007 ; Wassersug 2009 ; Treleaven et al. 2013 ). Thus even for eunuch-like ems there might still be a substantial demand for sex and related pair bonding. It is possible that em brain tweaks could be found to greatly reduce natural human desires for sex and related romantic and intimate pair bonding, without reducing em productivity. It is also possible that many of the most productive ems would accept such tweaks. Alternatively, it is possible that cheap vivid romantic and sexual simulations will sufficiently satisfy pairbonding urges, so that little demand remains for pair-bonding with real ems ( Levy 2008 ; Brain 2012 ). However, given how deeply pair bonding and sexual behaviors are embedded in human nature, such scenarios do not seem likely, at least for the early em era. Scenarios of sex suppression also seem to be less simple, as it is harder to calculate their implications. In this book I thus assume that ems retain modestly strong desires for sex and related pair bonding, even if such desires are substantially reduced. I also assume that familiar conventional sexual and gender habits and preferences continue in the em world. That is, most ems divide clearly into male versus female, ems mostly prefer male-female pair bonds, and these bonds have a distribution of time-scales near those we have seen in humans across cultures so far.

Deacon's Dilemma: The Problem of Pair-bonding in Human Evolution

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin Dunbar
Keyword(s):  
Human Evolution ◽  
Bonding Process ◽  
Mating Strategies ◽  
Real Problem ◽  
Biparental Care ◽  
Pair Bonding ◽  
Proximate Mechanisms ◽  
Hominin Evolution ◽  
Pair Bonds ◽  
Paternity Uncertainty

Humans have an unusual mating system — nominally monogamous pair-bonds set within multimale/multifemale communities. In the context of large, dispersed communities, this inevitably places a significant stress on mating strategies, especially for males for whom paternity uncertainty is a real problem. This chapter discusses the nature of this bonding process in terms of the proximate mechanisms that make it possible, and then asks why such a phenomenon might have evolved. It suggests that the evidence for the importance of biparental care is weak, and a more likely explanation is that females attached themselves to males in order to reduce the risks of harassment and infanticide from other males. Finally, the discussion examines when pair-bonds of this kind might have evolved during the course of hominin evolution, and suggests that it might have been quite late.

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