Social Isolation may Have Profound Effects on Mental Health

Strong drive to socialize is found to be exhibited by female mice after a period of acute isolation, as per a study at Cornell University, published in the journal PLOS ONE.

The study on this impact of mental health on isolation suggests a promising pathway to understand the brain mechanisms. The data describes how isolation affects people's social motivation and mental health - a growing concern during the COVID-19 pandemic.

‘Strong drive to socialize is found to be exhibited by female mice after a period of acute isolation.’

"That kind of social interaction between female mice is the most equivalent to our daily interactions with other people. Intuitively, we know that social isolation has that effect on our behavior: We want to see and interact with people," says Katherine Tschida, assistant professor of psychology in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Effect of Isolation

The study team explored the effects of acute isolation on mice. The animal was allowed alone in its home cage for three days. This increased the so-called ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs), as well as non-vocal social behaviors (such as sniffing and following) among the mice when another mouse was introduced to the cage.

USVs are not a speech or language; but rather sounds such as laughing, crying, and sighing that help indicate and communicate emotional states.

It was found that there was a fourfold increase in USVs compared to a control group of mice kept in group housing, and more non-vocal social behaviors.

The team thereby speculates that acute isolation appeared to have a strong effect on the craving for affiliative social contact thought to motivate females' social interaction. Further to this, the study also hopes to identify neurons that encode social context and emotional states.

This may help pinpoint how isolation acts on the circuits that control social motivation, including vocalizations.

Source: Medindia