Experience-dependent modulation of prosocial touch in mice

Prosocial behaviors that benefit others are vital for social cohesion and collective well-being. How prior experiences shape future prosocial actions remains a critical open question. Mice can respond to distressed social partners with prosocial touch (allogrooming), alleviating stress in recipients. We show that mice that previously received prosocial contact following stress subsequently exhibited enhanced allogrooming toward stressed partners, and the amount of allogrooming previously received predicted the amount later displayed toward others. Notably, attenuation of peripheral tactile sensation during the receipt of prosocial contact diminished its impact on future allogrooming behavior, suggesting a critical role of somatosensation in mediating this phenomenon. Furthermore, receipt of prosocial contact was associated with increased neuronal activation in the posterior intralaminar thalamic nucleus, a region implicated in processing social touch information and regulating allogrooming behavior. Collectively, our findings offer insights into experience-dependent modulation of prosocial touch and its underlying sensory and neural mechanisms.