A. Social memory protocol schematic. B. Social discrimination results. Reducing ventral hippocampal activity with either hM4Di (CNO 1 mg/kg) or KORD (SB 1 mg/kg) compromises performance in control mice (F(1.81,21.72)=7.216, p=0.0049, RM one-way ANOVA with Geisser-Greenhouse’s correction and Dunnett’s correction), as does increasing activity via hM3Dq activation (CNO 1 mg/kg; t9=3.618, p=0.0056, paired t-test). C. Social approach results. Mice consistently show a preference for the novel conspecific (inhibitory DREADDS: F(2.31,27.73)=1.008, p=0.3876, RM one-way ANOVA with Geisser-Greenhouse’s correction; hM3Dq: t9=3.618, p=0.1639, paired t-test). Data are represented as mean ± SEM. Each circle represents an animal (number of animals indicated in parentheses). ns p>0.05, *p<0.05, **p<0.01.