Social isolation, i.e., the deprivation of social contact, is a highly stressful circumstance that affects behavioral and functional brain development in social animals. Cognitive flexibility, one of the essential executive brain function that facilitates survival problem solving, was reported to be impaired after social isolation rearing. However, most of the previous studies have focused on the constrained aspect of flexibility and little is known about the unconstrained aspect. In the present study, the unconstrained cognitive flexibility of Kunming mice (Mus musculus, Km) reared in isolation was examined by a novel digging task. The exploratory behavior of the mice was also tested utilizing the hole-board and elevated plus maze tests to explain the differences in cognitive flexibility between the mice reared socially and in isolation. The results demonstrated that the isolated mice had a higher success rate in solving the novel digging problem and showed a higher rate of exploratory behavior compared with the controls. Linear regression analysis revealed that the time it took the mice to solve the digging problem was negatively associated with exploratory behavior. The data suggest that social isolation rearing improves unconstrained cognitive flexibility in mice, which is probably related to an increase in their exploratory behavior. Such effects may reflect the behavioral and cognitive evolutionary adaptations of rodents to survive under complex and stressful conditions.

中文翻译：

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社会隔离提高了啮齿动物在新的认知灵活性任务中的表现

社会隔离，即社会接触的剥夺，是一种高度压力的情况，会影响社会动物的行为和功能性大脑发育。据报道，认知灵活性是促进生存问题解决的重要执行脑功能之一，据报道在社会孤立抚养后会受损。然而，以前的大多数研究都集中在灵活性的约束方面，而对不受约束的方面知之甚少。在本研究中，通过一项新的挖掘任务检查了孤立饲养的昆明小鼠（Mus musculus，Km）的无约束认知灵活性。还利用孔板和高架十字迷宫测试对小鼠的探索行为进行了测试，以解释在社会和孤立环境中饲养的小鼠之间认知灵活性的差异。结果表明，与对照组相比，分离的小鼠在解决新的挖掘问题方面具有更高的成功率，并且表现出更高的探索行为率。线性回归分析表明，老鼠解决挖掘问题所花费的时间与探索行为呈负相关。数据表明，社会隔离饲养提高了小鼠不受约束的认知灵活性，这可能与它们探索行为的增加有关。这种影响可能反映了啮齿动物在复杂和压力条件下生存的行为和认知进化适应。线性回归分析表明，老鼠解决挖掘问题所花费的时间与探索行为呈负相关。数据表明，社会隔离饲养提高了小鼠不受约束的认知灵活性，这可能与它们探索行为的增加有关。这种影响可能反映了啮齿动物在复杂和压力条件下生存的行为和认知进化适应。线性回归分析表明，老鼠解决挖掘问题所花费的时间与探索行为呈负相关。数据表明，社会隔离饲养提高了小鼠不受约束的认知灵活性，这可能与它们探索行为的增加有关。这种影响可能反映了啮齿动物在复杂和压力条件下生存的行为和认知进化适应。