Comparative Assessment of Familiarity/Novelty Preferences in Rodents.

Annaliese K Beery,Katharine L Shambaugh

doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2021.648830

Annaliese K Beery, Katharine L Shambaugh

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2021.648830

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Abstract

Sociality—i.e., life in social groups—has evolved many times in rodents, and there is considerable variation in the nature of these groups. While many species-typical behaviors have been described in field settings, the use of consistent behavioral assays in the laboratory provides key data for comparisons across species. The preference for interaction with familiar or novel individuals is an important dimension of social behavior. Familiarity preference, in particular, may be associated with more closed, less flexible social groups. The dimension from selectivity to gregariousness has been used as a factor in classification of social group types. Laboratory tests of social choice range from brief (10 minutes) to extended (e.g., 3 hours). As familiarity preferences typically need long testing intervals to manifest, we used 3-hour peer partner preference tests to test for the presence of familiarity preferences in same-sex cage-mates and strangers in rats. We then conducted an aggregated analysis of familiarity preferences across multiple rodent species (adult male and female rats, mice, prairie voles, meadow voles, and female degus) tested with the same protocol. We found a high degree of consistency within species across data sets, supporting the existence of strong, species-typical familiarity preferences in prairie voles and meadow voles, and a lack of familiarity preferences in other species tested. Sociability, or total time spent near conspecifics, was unrelated to selectivity in social preference. These findings provide important background for interpreting the neurobiological mechanisms involved in social behavior in these species.

Highlights

Comparative studies of rodent species that differ in social behavior have yielded important foundations for studying the genetic and neurobiological mechanisms underlying social behavior variation
We aggregated data from unmanipulated subjects in all relevant and comparable studies conducted in our lab, or by lab members together with collaborators working with other species. As part of this analysis we evaluate the consistency of data collected years apart under the same conditions, and we tested meadow voles in two apparatus types to assess the consistency or variability introduced by a change in apparatus structure
Rats spent 74% of the test in one of the chambers occupied by a conspecific (Table 2, Figure 1B), but there was no significant preference for any chamber over another across the test (F(2,33) = 1.98, p = 0.15)

Summary

Introduction

Comparative studies of rodent species that differ in social behavior have yielded important foundations for studying the genetic and neurobiological mechanisms underlying social behavior variation. One such behavior of interest is the tendency to live alone or in groups, and the neurobiological mechanisms underlying sociality in rodents are beginning to be explored (reviewed in Anacker and Beery, 2013; Beery, 2019). In order to understand the behavioral and neurobiological mechanisms that promote group-living across species, it becomes important to carefully consider the nature of relationships between individuals. We have assessed familiarity preferences in a variety of rodent species that each live in groups but differ in the nature of their social system; here we perform a meta-analysis across one new (this study) and eight published data sets of five rodent species performed following the same protocol

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