sex stimulates the release of vasopressin and oxytocin in people, as well as voles, though the role of these hormones in the human brain is not yet well understood.but while it is unlikely that people have a mental, smell-based map of their partners in the way that voles do, there are strong hints that the hormone pair have something to reveal about the nature of human love: among those of man's fellow primates that have been studied, monogamous marmosets have higher levels of vasopressin bound in the reward centres of their brains than do non-monogamous rhesus macaques.

　　虽然抗利尿激素和催产素在人脑内的角色仍未被透彻了解，但与田鼠一样，人体在受到性刺激时也会释放这些荷尔蒙。尽管与田鼠不一样，人类不太可能有一张基于嗅觉的神经系统伴侣图谱，但若干线索已有力说明，这两种荷尔蒙能揭示一些人类恋爱的本质∶在已被研究过的人类灵长目同伴之中，一夫一妻制小长尾猴的大脑奖赏中枢系统中，抗利尿激素水平较非一夫一妻制的恒河短尾猿高。