Early life experiences can have an enduring impact on the brain and behavior, with implications for stress reactivity, cognition, and social behavior. In particular, the neural systems that contribute to the expression of social behavior are altered by early life social environments. However, paradigms that have been used to alter the social environment during development have typically focused on exposure to stress, adversity, and deprivation of species-typical social stimulation. Here, we explore whether complex social environments can shape the development of complex social behavior. We describe lab-based paradigms for studying early life social complexity in rodents that are generally focused on enriching the social and sensory experiences of the neonatal and juvenile periods of development. The impact of these experiences on social behavior and neuroplasticity is highlighted. Finally, we discuss the degree to which our current approaches for studying social behavior outcomes give insight into “complex” social behavior and how social complexity can be better integrated into lab-based methodologies.

中文翻译：

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塑造复杂社会行为的发展


早期的生活经历会对大脑和行为产生持久的影响，对压力反应、认知和社会行为产生影响。特别是，有助于表达社会行为的神经系统会受到早期生活社会环境的改变。然而，在发育过程中用于改变社会环境的范例通常集中于压力、逆境和剥夺物种典型的社会刺激。在这里，我们探讨复杂的社会环境是否可以塑造复杂的社会行为的发展。我们描述了基于实验室的范例，用于研究啮齿类动物早期生命的社会复杂性，这些范例通常侧重于丰富新生儿和青少年发育时期的社会和感官体验。这些经历对社会行为和神经可塑性的影响得到了强调。最后，我们讨论了当前研究社会行为结果的方法在多大程度上深入了解“复杂”的社会行为，以及如何将社会复杂性更好地融入基于实验室的方法中。