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When Familiar Faces Feel Better: A Framework for Social Neurocognitive Aging in a Rat Model
Subhadeep Dutta Gupta1, Jeffrey M Long1, Peter R Rapp2
1Laboratory of Behavioral Neuroscience, National Institute on Aging, Baltimore, Maryland 21224.
Eneuro
|February 2, 2026
Summary
Aging impairs social novelty preference in rats, showing a bias towards familiar individuals, independent of memory. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) improved this social behavior in aged rats, suggesting a modifiable neural basis for social aging.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Gerontology
- Behavioral Science
Background:
- Social cognition is vital for well-being but declines with age, leading to isolation.
- Altered social behavior is linked to cognitive decline and dementia, yet causative links are understudied.
- Experimental models for social neurocognitive aging are needed.
Purpose of the Study:
- Establish a rat model for social neurocognitive aging research.
- Investigate age-related changes in social behavior and their relationship with cognitive function.
- Explore the neural basis of social aging using neuromodulation.
Main Methods:
- A large-scale behavioral study involving 169 young and aged Long-Evans rats.
- Assessment of spatial learning and memory using the water maze test.
- Evaluation of sociability and social novelty preference via the three-chamber social interaction test.
- Neuromodulation using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in aged rats.
Main Results:
- Aging selectively shifted social novelty preference, causing a familiarity bias in a subpopulation of aged rats.
- Sociability remained normal in aged rats; social novelty changes were independent of spatial memory, anxiety, or sensorimotor function.
- TMS enhanced social novelty preference in aged rats with a pre-existing social introversion phenotype.
Conclusions:
- Aged rats exhibit preserved sociability but altered social novelty preference, with individual differences.
- Social novelty preference changes are dissociated from hippocampal memory, suggesting distinct aging mechanisms.
- The findings provide a preclinical framework for understanding and potentially treating social aging deficits.
Keywords:
cognitive agingintermittent theta burst stimulationmemorysocial cognitiontranscranial magnetic stimulationMore Related Videos
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