An index of sociability is assessed using a three chambered social approach test.  Reduced and abnormal social interactions are features of many mental diseases including autism.  The social approach test measures the amount of time the animal spends in a chamber with a restrained conspecific versus the amount of time the animal spends alone.

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Most strains of mice display a preference for social novelty and will spend more time in the chamber with a restrained mouse than either of the other chambers.  However, BTBR mice do not show this preference.  The graphs above show quantitative evidence of this phenotype in BTBR mice as compared to C57BL/6J mice.  While both strains show a preference towards the side chambers of the apparatus, only C57BL/6J mice show a preference for the chamber containing a novel mouse (stranger) versus a chamber without (empty).  * denotes significant difference (P<0.05).