ArticleJournal of neuroscience methods2017
A novel operant task to assess social reward and motivation in rodents.
Article in Journal of neuroscience methods, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 40 citations in OpenAlex.
- Dichotomous Regulation of Social Behaviors by Nucleus Accumbens Neurons in Female and Male Syrian Hamsters.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2026Article
- A "personality test" for rats reveals subtle but distinct effects of sex and early life inflammation on brain and behavior.Behavioral neuroscience · 2026Article
- The social origins of consciousness.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Article
- CRISPR-mediated knockdown of oxytocin receptor in extended amygdala reduces stress-induced social avoidance in female California mice.Hormones and behavior · 2025Article
- CRISPR-mediated knockdown of oxytocin receptor in extended amygdala reduces stress-induced social avoidance in female California mice.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- The 3D Vertical Maze: A new model system for studying the interactions between social and spatial cognition.Journal of neuroscience methods · 2025Article
- Novel behavioral tasks for the measurement of social motivation in mice: a comparison across strains.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2025Article
- Sex differences in the social motivation of rats: Insights from social operant conditioning, behavioural economics, and video tracking.Biology of sex differences · 2024Article
- Sex differences in the impact of social status on social reward and associated mesolimbic activation.Physiology & behavior · 2024Article
- The Relevance of Animal Models of Social Isolation and Social Motivation for Understanding Schizophrenia: Review and Future Directions.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2023Review
- How social information impacts action in rodents and humans: the role of the prefrontal cortex and its connections.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2023Review
- Social familiarity and reinforcement value: a behavioral-economic analysis of demand for social interaction with cagemate and non-cagemate female rats.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Prefrontal circuits guiding social preference: Implications in autism spectrum disorder.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2022Review
- Actions of feeding-related peptides on the mesolimbic dopamine system in regulation of natural and drug rewards.Addiction neuroscience · 2022Article
- Sex differences in the reward value of familiar mates in prairie voles.Genes, brain, and behavior · 2022Article
- Article
- Female degus show high sociality but no preference for familiar peers.Behavioural processes · 2020Article
- Effect of Aggressive Experience in Female Syrian Hamsters on Glutamate Receptor Expression in the Nucleus Accumbens.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2020Article
- Interferon-α exacerbates neuropsychiatric phenotypes in lupus-prone mice.Arthritis research & therapy · 2019Article
- Sex-dependent regulation of social reward by oxytocin receptors in the ventral tegmental area.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundSocial reward plays a critical role in the development of beneficial social relationships, and disorders of the mechanisms controlling social reward are involved in the etiology of many psychiatric diseases. NEW
methodWe present a novel operant social preference task to quantify social reward in rodents using an apparatus with three chambers separated by one-way vertical-swing doors. The experimental animal is placed in the larger chamber while the two smaller chambers either remain empty or contain a stimulus animal or other potential reward stimulus. Adding weights to the door can alter effort required for rewards.
resultsHamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) entered the chamber containing a stimulus hamster significantly more frequently than an empty chamber. When the reinforcing effects of social interactions were compared to food reward under progressive cost requirements, the reinforcing effects of social interaction and sunflower seeds were similar. Progressively increasing the door weight decreased number of entries, but increased time spent attempting to open the doors. COMPARISON WITH EXISTING
methodsThe quantification of the rewarding properties of social interactions has almost exclusively used the conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm. Although robust and reliable, CPP includes a memory component, because it relies on the association of place with the social interaction while the operant task presented here does not.
conclusionsThis task allows for detailed and direct assessment of social and non-social rewards that may serve as effective behavioral reinforcers in this operant conditioning model, and it can be used to investigate the neural mechanisms regulating motivation.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.