Narp knockout mice show normal reactivity to novelty but attenuated recovery from neophobia

• We describe a task to assess reactivity to novelty (neophobia) and recovery from neophobia in mice.
• We find that Narp knockout mice do not have altered reactivity to novelty compared to wild-type mice.
• Narp knockout mice display behavioral inflexibility and show attenuated recovery from neophobia.

Narp knockout (KO) mice demonstrate cognitive inflexibility and addictive behavior, which are associated with abnormal reactivity to a novel stimulus. To assess reactivity to novelty, we tested Narp KO and wild-type (WT) mice on a neophobia procedure. Both Narp KO and WT mice showed a similar decrease in consumption upon initial exposure to a novel flavor, but Narp KO mice did not increase consumption with subsequent exposures to the novel flavor like the WT mice. Therefore, Narp KO mice do not have abnormal reactivity to novelty but show deficits in adapting behavior to reflect the updated value of a stimulus.