Fig. 3

Metabolic states prioritize social interaction. Cumulative time spent in social ROI; b. Cumulative time spent in nonsocial ROI, c. Number of entries to social ROI, d. mean speed in mm/s, e. total distance travelled, f. Correlation matrix showing the relationship between time spent in social and non-social regions of interest (ROIs) for CNTRL + SC and HGRY + SC, g. Cumulative probability distribution of Parallel Index (PI) values for zebrafish under HGRY + SC (black) and CNTRL + SC (green) conditions, h. Turning tendency over 20 sample indices for control and hungry conditions. The top panel (blue) represents the control, while the bottom panel (red) shows data from the hungry condition, i. Boxplots show the preference for the social area in both CNTRL + SC (n = 19) and HGRY + SC (n = 20) and CNTRL and HGRY in response to stimulus fish, j. Polar scatter plot of the focal fishes’ individual mean resultant vector’s angles α (0˚ to 360˚) combined with corresponding vector lengths R (0 to 1), for each treatment, k. Box plot of the individual resultant vector’s lengths R projected (R proj) onto the stimulus direction (180˚). Positive values indicate directional focus towards the stimulus; zero indicates no directionality; negative values indicate directional focus opposite to the stimulus, l. Temporal dynamics of reciprocal interactions between focal fish and social cue for the first 60-seconds. Shaded areas represent 95% confidence intervals, m. Heatmap of social preference in the CNTRL + SC group; n. Heatmap for the HGRY + SC. The vertical line divides the stimulus (right/without social cue) and social cue (left) zones. Box and whisker plots are shown with arithmetic median (middle line), and boxes represent the 1 st and 3rd quartiles. Data shown as mean ± s.e.m. P values are based on non-parametric t test comparing response differences. All asterisks indicate significance (*P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001 or ****P < 0.0001), ns: not significant; Mann–Whitney U test.