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Social valence dictates sex differences in identity recognition
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  • Published: 31 January 2026

Social valence dictates sex differences in identity recognition

  • Amanda Larosa1,2 na1,
  • Qi W. Xu2 na1,
  • Mohammad Yaghoubi  ORCID: orcid.org/0009-0006-5305-774X1,2,
  • Brandon W. Wong3,
  • Alice S. Wong2,
  • J. Quinn Lee2,
  • Mark P. Brandon2,4 &
  • …
  • Tak P. Wong  ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-8611-49112,4 

Translational Psychiatry , Article number:  (2026) Cite this article

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We are providing an unedited version of this manuscript to give early access to its findings. Before final publication, the manuscript will undergo further editing. Please note there may be errors present which affect the content, and all legal disclaimers apply.

Subjects

  • Hippocampus
  • Long-term memory

Abstract

Social valence is the directional emotional significance affiliated with social experiences. Maladaptive social information processing has been linked to mood disorder susceptibility, which is more prevalent in women. To determine whether there are sex differences in social valence processing, we employed behavioral tasks that associated conspecific identity recognition with either positive or negative valence, as well as tasks in which valence information originated from social targets. Male mice demonstrated identity recognition regardless of social valence. While male and female mice performed similarly in the positive social valence task, female mice did not show identity recognition following the negative social valence task. In vivo calcium imaging of the dorsal CA1 further revealed sex differences in negative social valence processing with reduced hippocampal representation of social information in female mice. Finally, enhancing dorsal CA1 neuronal activity by ampakine rescued identity recognition in female mice. These results suggest that sex differences in social valence processing may contribute to the heightened vulnerability to social stress-related mood disorders in women.

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Data availability

All MATLAB codes are available at https://github.com/tpwonglab/sexe-diff-social-memory. Raw data of all figures can be found in main text and supplementary materials. MATLAB data from calcium imaging will be shared on Zenodo after the publication of the paper.

Materials availability

All MATLAB codes are available at https://github.com/tpwonglab/sexe-diff-social-memory. Raw data of all figures can be found in main text and supplementary materials. MATLAB data from calcium imaging will be shared on Zenodo after the publication of the paper.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the UCLA Miniscope team and Daniel Aharoni’s lab for developing and sharing the miniscope technology. The present study used the services of the Molecular and Cellular Microscopy Platform in the Douglas Research Centre. Melina Jaramillo Garcia helped set up the imaging verification. We also thank Dr. Rosemary Bagot for the helpful discussions and advice.

Funding

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada RGPIN-2021-03739 (TPW). Canadian Institutes of Health Research PJ8 179866 and PJT 183587 (TPW). Fonds de recherche du Québec – Nature et technologies 326838 (TPW).

Author information

Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Amanda Larosa, Qi W. Xu.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Integrated Program in Neuroscience, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Amanda Larosa & Mohammad Yaghoubi

  2. Neuroscience Division, Douglas Research Centre, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Amanda Larosa, Qi W. Xu, Mohammad Yaghoubi, Alice S. Wong, J. Quinn Lee, Mark P. Brandon & Tak P. Wong

  3. Department of Software Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Brandon W. Wong

  4. Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Mark P. Brandon & Tak P. Wong

Authors
  1. Amanda Larosa
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  2. Qi W. Xu
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Contributions

Conceptualization: AL, QWX, MPB, TPW. Methodology: AL, QWX, ASW, JQL, MY, BWW. Investigation: AL, QWX. Funding acquisition: TPW. Project administration: TPW. Supervision: TPW. Writing—original draft: AL, TPW. Writing—review & editing: AL, TPW.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tak P. Wong.

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Raw data and statistic summary

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Cite this article

Larosa, A., Xu, Q.W., Yaghoubi, M. et al. Social valence dictates sex differences in identity recognition. Transl Psychiatry (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-026-03854-5

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  • Received: 20 June 2025

  • Revised: 17 December 2025

  • Accepted: 22 January 2026

  • Published: 31 January 2026

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-026-03854-5

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