Social interaction
Social behaviors are an important part of many animals' behavioral spectrum. Social behaviors encompass any behavior that is produced to or in response to another animal.
Many laboratory animals like rodents and zebrafish naturally live in groups. Therefore, it is very important to consider not only what social behaviors an animal produces, but also how a social context influences all behaviors.
What is social interaction?
Even though some animals are more social than others, every animal experiences social interaction. Many different types of behaviors are categorized as social behaviors. For example:
- check Grooming
- check Aggression
- check Mating
Observing these interactions gives insight into the way animals respond to social cues and how these are influenced by genetics, environment and other developmental factors.
Why should I measure social interaction?
Social interaction is essential for gaining a complete understanding of your animal models' behavior, especially for researchers studying developmental disorders. Conditions like autism, depression, and schizophrenia significantly impact how animals interact with others, making the study of these behaviors vital.
- check New treatment insight: Studying animal social interactions reveals key data on mental health disorders
- check Accelerating human therapies: These studies directly advance new treatments for people
- check Higher welfare standards: Measuring behavior in a social context is becoming an important standard for ethical animal research
How do you measure social interaction
Measuring behavior in a social context
Measuring social interaction is not only about looking at so called "social" behaviors. The presence of cage mates during testing can have a major influence on the test outcome. Due to welfare, more and more researchers are considering housing animals even during testing. EthoVision XT 18, with its improved social interaction module, in combination with PhenoTyper is the ideal hardware and software combination to observe multiple mice at the same time.
Sociability chamber
The three-chamber test is a behavioral assay to study social interaction and preference in rodents. During the test, an animal is placed in the middle of a chamber that connects to two side chambers. EthoVision XT can help you automate the measurements, making it easy to measure parameters like time spent near novel animal, entries into chambers and general movement patterns.
Live Mouse Tracker
Live Mouse Tracker (LMT) was developed by Institut Pasteur to track multiple mice in a singular arena. Through the use of RFID, computer vision and AI, LMT is able to track up to four mice at the same time. With EthoVision XT, LMT data can easily be imported, allowing for easier organization and analysis of data.
Ultrasonic vocalizations
Various animal species emit vocalizations as a form of communication during interactions with another animal. Detecting these sometimes ultrasonic vocalizations can give greater insight into the affective state of the animal. UltraVox XT is ideal for measuring these (ultrasonic) vocalizations. With the software you can easily collect, analyze and visualize your results.
Shoaling
Shoaling is not only the practice of fish moving together, it involves a series of complex social dynamics like following, turning and moving as a collective in response to external stimuli. EthoVision XT allows you to track multiple fish at once or one zebrafish that is responding to a video or fish in a neighboring tank.
Featured resources
Did you know you can (semi) socially house tethered animals?
Socially housing tethered animals can be challenging, but also crucially beneficial to your study. Read more about how with our PhenoTyper we can solve that dilemma!
The dilemma of individual versus social housing of mice
This webinar shows that how you house your animals can greatly influence the outcome of your research. Which form of housing is most adequate and/or relevant for your research?
Social housing and its influence on research
In this webinar we explain how housing your animals can greatly influence the outcome of your research. Is social housing the most adequate and relevant for your research?
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