Affiliation in mice induced by an auditory-conditioned stimulus

Social affiliation is a vital survival strategy that promotes well-being across species. While innate threats consistently trigger affiliation, it remains unclear whether learned threats engage the same affiliative systems. Here, we report that an auditory conditioned stimulus induced affiliation in mice. In same-sex dyads, mice subjected to auditory fear conditioning increased proximity during presentation of the conditioned stimulus (CS). This CS-evoked affiliation was independent of freezing levels, required familiarity between partners, and depended on intact basolateral amygdala-to-ventral hippocampus inputs and oxytocin signaling. These findings suggest that neural pathways activated by learned and innate threats converge on shared social-affiliation circuitry.