Indication of Social Buffering in Disbudded Calves

Most dairy calves are housed individually in their early ontogeny but there is an increasing interest in housing calves socially. Social housing has many positive effects on calf welfare including an advantage of social buffering, i.e., when negative effects of stress are mitigated through social support of familiar conspecific. So far, social buffering has not been tested in relation to stress after disbudding, a painful husbandry procedure performed in young calves. Therefore, the effect of pair versus individual housing on calves’ reaction to disbudding was investigated. In total 50 female calves housed either individually (n= 14) or in pairs (n= 36, 18 focal) were used. Calves were hot-iron disbudded with a local anesthetic and their behavior in home pens was recorded 24 h pre- and post-disbudding. Feeding, ruminating, resting, exploration, play, self-grooming, and pain-related behaviors were quantified during eight 20 min intervals during the 24 h periods pre- and post-disbudding. In pair-housed (PAIR) calves social resting, active and passive allo-grooming were additionally recorded. Concentrate intake was measured 24 h pre- and post-disbudding. The changes of pre- and post- disbudding behaviors as well as differences between individually housed (INDI) and PAIR calves were tested by general linear models. The differences in pre- and post-disbudding behaviors of PAIR calves were tested by paired t-test. We found that head rubbing (t=-5.14, P<0.0001) and head shaking (t=-3.33, P=0.004) increased after disbudding. Feeding increased only in PAIR calves (t=-2.95, P=0.016) which also resulted in a difference between treatments with PAIR calves fed more than INDI calves (F1,18=12.27, P=0.003). We did not find any other significant differences. Our results provide the first evidence that housing treatment affects calves' reactions to disbudding, with possible indication of social buffering.

Commentary on emotion in sharks

While studying the behaviour of a community of blackfin reef sharks, there was a four month long episode during which the entire company of residents and their visitors showed evidence of feeling a negative emotion towards me. They directed a variety of menacing gestures towards me, and their behaviour escalated until they began battering my kayak on my arrival in their range. Underwater, three would have slammed me personally had I not fought them off. Their behaviour suggested that their cognitive functions are complex, for they held their negative attitude in mind long-term. Two years later, under different conditions, they conveyed, via body language, a positive emotion. Social learning, social buffering, and emotional contagion were also displayed in their actions.

Robot-Fish Interaction Helps to Trigger Social Buffering in Neon Tetras: The Potential Role of Social Robotics in Treating Anxiety

The emerging field of social robotics comprises several multidisciplinary applications. Anxiety and stress therapies can greatly benefit by socio-emotional support provided by robots, although the intervention of social robots as effective treatment needs to be fully understood. Herein, Paracheirodon innesi, a social fish species, was used to interact with a robotic fish to understand intrinsic and extrinsic mechanisms causing anxiety, and how social robots can be effectively used as anxiety treatments. In the first experiment we tested the effects of a conspecific-mimicking robot on the fish tendency to swim in the bottom when transferred in a new tank. Here, P. innesi spent a significantly longer time in the upper section of the test tank when the robotic fish was present, clearly indicating a reduction of their state of anxiety due to social stimuli. The second experiment was based on a modification of the dark/light preference test, since many teleost fish are scototactic, preferring dark environments. However, when the robotic fish was placed in the white half of the test tank, P. innesi individuals swam longer in this section otherwise aversive. Social support provided by the robotic fish in both experiments produced a better recovery from anxiety due to social buffering, a phenomenon regulated by specific neural mechanisms. This study provides new insights on the evolution and mechanisms of social buffering to reduce anxiety, as well as on the use of social robots as an alternative to traditional approaches in treating anxiety symptoms.

Social buffering of human fear is shaped by gender, social concern, and the presence of real vs virtual agents

The presence of a partner can attenuate physiological fear responses, a phenomenon known as social buffering. However, not all individuals are equally sociable. Here we investigated whether social buffering of fear is shaped by sensitivity to social anxiety (social concern) and whether these effects are different in females and males. We collected skin conductance responses (SCRs) and affect ratings of female and male participants when they experienced aversive and neutral sounds alone (alone treatment) or in the presence of an unknown person of the same gender (social treatment). Individual differences in social concern were assessed based on a well-established questionnaire. Our results showed that social concern had a stronger effect on social buffering in females than in males. The lower females scored on social concern, the stronger the SCRs reduction in the social compared to the alone treatment. The effect of social concern on social buffering of fear in females disappeared if participants were paired with a virtual agent instead of a real person. Together, these results showed that social buffering of human fear is shaped by gender and social concern. In females, the presence of virtual agents can buffer fear, irrespective of individual differences in social concern. These findings specify factors that shape the social modulation of human fear, and thus might be relevant for the treatment of anxiety disorders.

The importance of friendships in reducing brain responses to stress in adolescents exposed to childhood adversity: a pre-registered systematic review

Up to 50% of all children and adolescents growing up worldwide are exposed to at least one form of childhood adversity (CA), which is one of the strongest predictors for later-life psychopathology. One way through which CA confers such vulnerability in later-life is through increased sensitivity to and likelihood of social stress. A growing body of research demonstrates the positive impact of adolescent friendship support on mental well-being after CA, however, the mechanisms that may underlie this relationship are unknown. Neurobiological models of social buffering suggest that social support can reduce perceptions, reactions, and physiological responses to and after stress. Therefore, this pre-registered, systematic literature search examined whether friendships reduce neural stress responses in adolescents with CA.

Early Pup Removal Leads to Social Dysfunction and Dopamine Deficit in Late Postpartum Rats: Prevention by Social Support

Offspring interaction is among the most highly motivated behaviors in maternal mammals and is mediated by mesolimbic dopamine (DA) system activation. Disruption or loss of significant social relationships is among the strongest individual predictors of affective dysregulation and depression onset in humans. However, little is known regarding the effects of disrupted mother–infant attachment (pup removal) in rat dams. Here, we tested the effects of permanent pup removal in rat dams, which were assigned to one of three groups on postpartum day (PD) 1: pups; pups removed, single-housed; or pups removed, co-housed with another dam who also had pups removed; and underwent a behavioral test battery during PD 21–23. In vivo electrophysiological recordings of ventral tegmental area (VTA) DA neurons were performed on PD 22 and 23 in a subset of animals. Pup removal did not impact sucrose consumption or anxiety-like behavior, but increased passive forced swim test (FST) coping responses. Pup-removal effects on social behavior and VTA activity were sensitive to social buffering: only single-housed dams exhibited reduced social motivation and decreased numbers of active DA neurons. Dams that had pups removed and were co-housed did not exhibit changes in social behavior or VTA function. Moreover, no changes in social behavior, FST coping, or VTA activity were found in socially isolated adult virgin females, indicating that effects observed in dams are specific to pup loss. This study showed that deprivation of species-expected social relationships (pups) during the postpartum precipitates an enduring negative affect state (enhanced passive coping, blunted social motivation) and attenuated VTA DA function in the dam, and that a subset of these effects is partially ameliorated through social buffering.