Title: Enhanced defense in adult rats deprived of playfighting experience as juveniles
Abstract: Aggressive BehaviorVolume 17, Issue 1 p. 27-40 Article Enhanced defense in adult rats deprived of playfighting experience as juveniles Dorothy Einon, Dorothy Einon Department of Psychology, University College, London, EnglandSearch for more papers by this authorMichael Potegal Ph.D., Corresponding Author Michael Potegal Ph.D. Department of Developmental Psychobiology, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, New YorkNew York State Psychiatric Institute, 722 W. 168th St., New York NY 10032Search for more papers by this author Dorothy Einon, Dorothy Einon Department of Psychology, University College, London, EnglandSearch for more papers by this authorMichael Potegal Ph.D., Corresponding Author Michael Potegal Ph.D. Department of Developmental Psychobiology, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, New YorkNew York State Psychiatric Institute, 722 W. 168th St., New York NY 10032Search for more papers by this author First published: 1991 https://doi.org/10.1002/1098-2337(1991)17:1<27::AID-AB2480170105>3.0.CO;2-BCitations: 28AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onEmailFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Abstract In an earlier study we found that shock-elicited defensive aggression was intensified in rats that had been deprived of playfighting as juveniles. The three experiments reported here extend this phenomenon to the more naturalistic intruder/resident paradigm for eliciting defense. Rats were reared from 20 to 50 days in one of three conditions: in pairs or in isolation with or without 1 hour of daily playfighting experience. They were rehoused in small groups at 50 days, when the frequency of play is beginning to wane, in order to eliminate the effects of ongoing isolation at the time of testing. They were tested for defense at 80 to 100 days by being placed in a resident's cage for 10 minutes. Our main finding was that play-deprived animals spent significantly more time immobile after they had been attacked than did animals of the other two groups. The increased immobility associated with playfighting deprivation is not caused by baseline differences in emotionality such as those elicited by a novel environment (Experiment 1), the presence of a strange animal (Experiment 2), or nonsocial aversive stimuli (Experiment 3). Furthermore, play-deprived rats were not more reactive when pinched with forceps to stimulate a bite delivered by a conspecific, whether or not another rat was present behind a divider. Thus isolates' greater reactivity may be restricted to situations involving pain coupled with close proximity to and contact with another rat. A secondary finding was that there were no differences in defensive behaviors other than immobility. The appropriate generalization to be drawn from these studies is that early social deprivation facilitates the defensive response to a social threat that happens to be prepotent under the given experimental conditions. 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Publication Year: 1991
Publication Date: 1991-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 43
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