DOI: 10.5061/dryad.n02v6wx5x
title: Visual and olfactory signals of conspecifics induce emotional contagion in mice

description: Emotional contagion occurs in many animals, including rodents. To
 determine the social signals of emotional state-matching between
 individuals in mice, we conducted an empirical laboratory experiment using
 visual, olfactory, and auditory stimuli. The Japanese wild-derived mouse
 strain MSM/Ms (MSM) was tested as observers, since our initial experiments
 indicated that MSM mice showed higher sensitivity to others’ pain compared
 to the laboratory strain C57BL/6J (B6). MSM observers were shown footage
 of an unfamiliar B6 mouse receiving painful foot shocks via a screen. For
 olfactory stimuli, one of the following was presented during observation:
 (1) urine collected from a shocked B6 mouse, (2) urine collected from an
 unshocked B6 mouse, or (3) reverse osmosis water. Consequently, MSM mice
 observing the footage with shocked urine demonstrated significantly higher
 fear-induced freezing behaviour than in the other two conditions.
 Regarding visual and auditory stimuli, observing the pixelated video clip
 was significantly associated with reduced freeze responses, whereas
 blocking auditory cues did not affect the duration of freezing. These
 results provide clear-cut evidence that multiple cues, including olfactory
 and visual information, are sufficient social signals for emotional
 contagion of pain in mice.
description: # Visual and olfactory signals of conspecifics induce emotional contagion
 in mice
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.n02v6wx5x](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.n02v6wx5x) ## Description of the data and file structure ### Supplementary\_Video\_1\_Visual\_and\_olfactory\_signals\_of\_conspecifics\_induce\_emotional\_contagion\_in\_mice\_Nakamura\_etal.mp4: Supplemental video representing the two types of the visual signals (pixelated and unprocessed footage) in the social-signal-experiment (Figure 2c and 2d). ### Supplemental\_table\_S1.csv: Comprehensive table detailing the *F*-values, degrees of freedom (*DF*), *p*-values (including main effects, interactions, and post-hoc test results) of the statistical analyses for figure 3 and 4. ### figure\_3a.csv: Raw data: percentage of freezing time of each minute in B6 demonstrators with MSM observers (n = 10) and B6 demonstrators with B6 observers (n = 10) for figure 3a. ### figure\_3b.csv: Raw data: percentage of freezing time of each minute in MSM observers (n = 10) and B6 observers (n = 10) for figure 3b. ### figure\_3c.csv: Raw data: percentage of freezing time of each time period in MSM observers (n = 10) and B6 observers (n = 10) for figure 3c. ### figure\_4a.csv:  Raw data: percentage of freezing time of each period in MSM observers in the three conditions of olfactory signals (RO water; n = 10, unshocked urine; n = 10, shocked urine; n = 8) for figure 4a. ### figure\_4b.csv: Raw data: percentage of freezing time of each period in MSM observers in the two conditions of visual signals (pixelated; n = 9, unprocessed; n = 7) for figure 4b. ### figure\_4c.csv:  Raw data: percentage of freezing time of each period in MSM observers in the two conditions of auditory signals (without sound; n = 9, with sound; n = 7) for figure 4c.