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Child neglect increases the risk of developing social communication disorders in adulthood. This study measured how maternal separation affects vocal communication in adult Mongolian gerbils, which produce a rich vocal repertoire during social interactions. The vocalizations produced by the two adult animals when they first met were recorded and analyzed. The results showed that MS-received gerbils vocalized significantly more, and the effect was more prominent in aggressive vocalizations than in non-aggressive vocalizations. These changes suggest that MS affects social interactions, and demonstrates the potential of the gerbil as a model animal for early stress-related social communication disorders.
Nishibori et al. (Wed,) studied this question.