Abstract
I measured the amount of time mice spent in a compartment with either a mirror or an opaque screen and found that mice stayed longer in the compartment with the mirror. This finding suggests that mice prefer mirrors. They also showed a preference for the mirror over unfamiliar live mice but did not show a differential preference for the mirror over a familiar live mouse (cage mate). Restraint stress caused hyperthermia (known as stress-induced hyperthermia) in the mice. When cage mates received the restraint stress together, the hyperthermia was reduced. Placement of mirrors instead of the cage mates also showed stress-reducing effects, while restraint with unfamiliar mice did not reduce the hyperthermia. These results suggest that mirrors have familiar cage mate-like social effects in mice.
Highlights
Title Mirror perception in mice: Preference for and stress reduction by mirrors and stress reduction by mirror
This finding suggests that mice prefer mirrors. They showed a preference for the mirror over unfamiliar live mice but did not show a differential preference for the mirror over a familiar live mouse
Placement of mirrors instead of the cage mates showed stress-reducing effects, while restraint with unfamiliar mice did not reduce the hyperthermia. These results suggest that mirrors have familiar cage mate-like social effects in mice
Summary
For the mirror versus cage mate test, the opaque partition was changed to a transparent one and a stimulus mouse (cage mate) was placed in the stimulus area. An unfamiliar mouse was placed in the stimulus area in the mirror versus unfamiliar mouse test. In the mirror versus non-mirror test, one side compartment of the apparatus contained a mirror, and the other side compartment contained a white opaque partition. The procedure was identical to that of the mirror versus non-mirror test except that an unfamiliar mouse was placed in a stimulus area that was separated from the rest of the compartment by a transparent partition. The procedure was identical to that of the mirror versus unfamiliar mouse test except that one cage mate was placed in the stimulus area instead of an unfamiliar mouse. In addition to paired t-tests to analyze differences in the time spent between the two compartments, the χ2 test was used to analyze the numbers of subjects that stayed in each compartment for a longer duration than the other compartment
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