Novel behavioral tasks for the measurement of social motivation in mice: a comparison across strains.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Social isolation, reduced social interaction, and social anhedonia are associated with a range of neuropsychiatric conditions. While the search for novel pharmacological agents to treat social symptoms persists, more precise social behavior measures in pre-clinical animal models are needed to make the most accurate predictions of therapeutic outcomes.

Methods

In the current study, we propose two novel behavioral tasks to measure social motivation in mouse models. We define social motivation as the willingness to exert effort to access a social partner. The first social motivation test, the weighted door task, requires a mouse to push open a one-way, weighted door that increases in weight across successive trials to access a social partner behind the door. The se

SUBMITTER: Wells C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12816312 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature