![]() But it appeared to have a strong effect on the craving for affiliative social contact thought to motivate females’ social interaction. ![]() The scholars speculate that acute isolation may not be enough to significantly influence males’ sexual motivation with females, or aggressive motivation with other males. “They interact much more, they vocalize much more,” Tschida said, “and the behavior of the subject animal – the lonely mouse, essentially – seems to be altered.” In contrast, female-female interactions showed a “profound effect” from acute isolation: a fourfold increase in USVs compared to a control group of mice kept in group housing, and more non-vocal social behaviors. But they observed only subtle changes among males interacting with females – the focus of most prior USV research – as well as among males interacting with other males. The researchers had expected vocalizations and other activity to increase after acute social isolation. The results were somewhat surprising, Tschida said. The team also looked at whether the number of USVs produced during a social encounter after acute isolation differed among males and females, and at how isolated mice behaved with a mouse of the same or opposite sex during 30-minute encounters – the first study to make such comparisons in mice. “By studying it in a mouse, we think we’ll gain insight into how that process is controlled in people as well.” “It’s that kind of innate, emotional type of vocal communication that we produce on top of our learned speech sounds,” Tschida said. Inaudible to humans, USVs are neither speech nor language, said Tschida, a neuroscientist who studies the brain circuits that control vocalization, but sounds such as laughing, crying and sighing that help indicate and communicate emotional states. The team set out to investigate whether exposure to acute isolation – three days alone in its home cage – would cause mice to increase so-called ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs), as well as non-vocal social behaviors such as sniffing and following, when another mouse was introduced to the cage. Co-authors include six undergraduates working in the Tschida Lab: Samantha Chu ’22, Samantha Rabinovich ’22, William Chan ’22, Jennifer Zhao ’22, Caroline Kornbrek ’23 and Zichen He ’22. First authors are Xin Zhao, a postdoctoral researcher, and Patryk Ziobro and Nicole Pranic, doctoral students in the field of psychology. Tschida is the senior author of “ Sex- and Context-Dependent Effects of Acute Isolation on Vocal and Non-Vocal Social Behaviors in Mice,” published Sept. ![]() “Intuitively, we know that social isolation has that effect on our behavior: We want to see and interact with people.” “That kind of social interaction between female mice is the most equivalent to our daily interactions with other people,” said Katherine Tschida, assistant professor of psychology in the College of Arts and Sciences. Their behavior suggests a promising pathway, the researchers say, for understanding the brain mechanisms through which isolation affects people’s social motivation and mental health – a growing concern during the COVID-19 pandemic. Female mice exhibit a strong drive to socialize with other females following periods of acute isolation, significantly increasing their production of social calls that are akin to human emotional vocalizations, new Cornell psychology research finds.
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