
Goal: level of social interaction
Principle: after a period of habituation to an empty box, the animal encounters a never-before-met intruder under one container and an empty container. In a second phase, the subject encounters the first intruder as well as a new unfamiliar mouse under another container. Social interaction will be determined by measuring the amount of time the tested mouse spends approaching the chamber containing a new, unfamiliar ‘stranger', as compared to time spent in the chamber containing the now-familiar mouse.