Oxytocin in learning and addiction: From early discoveries to the present

Oxytocin (OXT) has a plethora of effects on brain function. This review provides a historical overview of the development of research on OXT and drug addiction. By focusing on research that has emerged from our laboratories, we describe how early discoveries of the influence of OXT on learning and memory processes and the emerging conceptualization of addiction as ‘pathological learning’ have contributed to the demonstration that OXT effectively attenuates long-term neuroadaptation related to opiate and psychostimulant addiction. Through integrating earlier evidence with recent discoveries of the social/affiliative role of OXT, we propose that OXT may interfere with reward and addiction by influencing neurobiological processes involved in stress, learning and memory and social/affiliative behavior. •Oxytocin attenuates learning & memory processes.•Addiction is conceptualised as a ‘pathological learning’.•Oxytocin influences addiction through limbic-forebrain mechanisms.•Oxytocin may act through attenuation of stress- and learning-related processes.•Oxytocin may facilitate social interactions to inhibit addiction.