Mate-choice copying, social information processing, and the roles of oxytocin

- Mate choice is dependent on direct and indirect social information.
- Individuals socially recognize and learn about the mate choice of other.
- Utilizing the choices of others leads to “mate-choice copying”.
- Oxytocin is involved in the mediation of mate-choice copying.

Social and sexual behaviors, including that of mate choice, are dependent on social information. Mate choice can be modified by prior and ongoing social factors and experience. The mate choice decisions of one individual can be influenced by either the actual or potential mate choice of another female or male. Such non-independent mate choice, where individuals gain social information and socially learn about and recognizes potential mates by observing the choices of another female or male, has been termed “mate-choice copying”. Here we first briefly review how, why, and under what circumstances individuals engage in mate-choice copying. Secondly, we review the neurobiological mechanisms underlying mate-choice copying. In particular, we consider the roles of the nonapeptide, oxytocin, in the processing of social information and the expression of mate-choice copying.