Social Behavior
Understand how social structures and interactions influence animal behavior. Environments like the three-chamber arena can be used to investigate sociability and social novelty in rats and mice. Read more on social behavior on the Behavioral Research Blog.
Understanding mouse social interaction using objective measures
Measuring social interaction is an important, but due to technical limitations, often overlooked part of behavioral research. Live mouse tracker was designed to alleviate this problem.
Classical music affects affiliative behaviors in bottlenose dolphins
Researchers from the University of Padova used The Observer XT to measure the behavior of dolphins when exposed to different types of enrichment.
How to analyze different characteristics of olfaction in rodents
Correct analysis of olfaction is crucial for an accurate interpretation of mouse social behavior. Today's guest article describes how to analyze different characteristics with the olfactory habituation/dishabituation test.
(Un)social rats: the role of dopamine and the amygdala in social adversity
With optogenetics and behavioral testing, researchers found a link between infant social adversity and decreased social behavior in the circuitry of the amygdala.
The social interaction test: effortless and dependable with EthoVision XT
What is the social interaction test? This blog dives into this topic for fish and rodents. Why is social interaction important to measure, and how do we go about doing it?
Zebrafish attracted to superfish: video tracking sex differences in shoaling
Are images enough to evoke a shoaling response in zebrafish? Do males and females respond differently to shoals or the opposite sex? A recent study finds out.
Using the Observer XT to measure aggressive behavior in Dolphins
The Observer XT is often used in the field to score complex ethograms. This blog touches upon a study of the 'Wild Dolphin Project' that investigates aggresive behavior between two species of dolphins.
Sunshine and romance: ultraviolet light enhances sexual behavior
Ultraviolet B rays in sunshine enhances our romantic passion. How this actually works is still largely unknown. Research at the Tel Aviv University provides new insights.
Altruism in rats, suspiciously human
A recent study by Bartal et al drove our curiousity to write this blog about altruistic behavior in rats. This study shows how this type of behavior is neurally linkend to the social functioning of humans.
The relationship between social hierarchy and social stress
Today, Deepika Patel kindly shares her research on social structures with us. She investigated rat behavior in detail, using several test paradigms.