Social behavior, hormones and adult neurogenesis

• Social interactions are associated with profound neuroendocrine changes.
• Social experience, including mating and social stress, affects adult neurogenesis in the hippocampus.
• Hormonal changes may be important for experience-dependent changes in adult neurogenesis.
• Social interactions may optimize the brain for future experience through changes in new neurons.

A variety of experiences have been shown to affect the production of neurons in the adult hippocampus. These effects may be mediated by experience-driven hormonal changes, which, in turn, interact with factors such as sex, age and life history to alter brain plasticity. Although the effects of physical experience and stress have been extensively characterized, various types of social experience across the lifespan trigger profound neuroendocrine changes in parallel with changes in adult neurogenesis. This review article focuses on the influence of specific social experiences on adult neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus and the potential role of hormones in these effects.