Social interaction set-up

No matter for what purpose you are investigating social interaction in rodents, our software and hardware help you out.

Track the paths of up to sixteen animals in one open field automatically.
Automatically collect and analyze data on the position of multiple animals, such as the mean distance between two animals.
Code detailed social behavior manually and automatically calculate statistics, such as the total duration of grooming events.
Detect and analyze immobility as measure of fear.

Examples of parameters

Percentage of time in which two animals are within each other’s proximity.
Mean distance between two animals.
Speed at which one animal moves away or towards another animal.
Total time spent grooming an animal by each animal.
Frequency of ‘pushing away’ by one animal while it was attacked by another animal.
Dominance hierarchy within the group of tested animals based on frequencies of aggressive or submissive behaviors.

Components

Optional components

Selected publications

Shier, D.; Randall, J. (2007). Use of different signaling modalities to communicate status by dominant and subordinate Heermann’s kangaroo rats. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 61, 1023-1032.
Adriani, W.; Giannakopoulou, D.; Bokulic, Z.; Jernej, B.; Alleva, E.; Laviola, G. (2006). Response to novelty, social and self-control behaviors in rats exposed to neonatal anoxia: modulatory effects of an enriched environment. Psychopharmacology, 184, 155-165.