When some female mice were kept in acute isolation for a certain period of time, they exhibited a strong desire to socialise with others. The mice significantly increased their production of social calls, akin to human emotional vocalisations.
This experiment, conducted by researchers at Cornell University reveals that the behaviour of the isolated mice is a method to understand the mental and physical behaviour of isolated humans as well – especially due to COVID-19 pandemic.
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Katherine Tschida, Assistant Professor of Psychology at the university said that intuitively, humans also exhibit a similar desire to socially interact with others after living in isolation for too long. In fact, researchers reported that it's not the sex drive that is on the rise after isolation, but the craving for affiliative social contact which escalated significantly.
The researchers believe that a longer study could also contribute to the understanding and treatment of social anxiety and depression, as well as factors that contribute to differences in susceptibility to social isolation.
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