title: Progressive decline in social attention in aging rats: an information-statistical method.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to assess the earliest signs of behavioral changes during aging. In a longitudinal setup the spontaneously displayed social behavior was observed and analyzed. Social interactions offer an appropriate paradigm for studying a gradual decrease in several categories of social behavior in aging animals. The frequencies and durations of 12 behavioral categories collected over 18 sessions yield a wealth of data, which is difficult to evaluate. Therefore, an information-statistical analysis was used, which compressed the frequencies and sequential organization of behavior into a very sensitive and meaningful index. This index expressing the predictability of behavior does not only show age-related changes but also yields an interpretation of the complex changes seen in frequency distributions. The applied analysis focuses on the predictability of behavior, which may be predominantly determined by the animal's own preceding behavior or by the behavior of its social partner. It is shown that the influence of the behavior of a partner on ongoing behavior declines age-dependently, whereas the influence of the animal's own preceding behavior increases. The simultaneous change in these two indices is interpreted as a progressive decline in social attention, which seems to be characteristic for aging rats. It is concluded that the analysis of the sequential organization of behavior offers a new tool, useful in longitudinal behavioral studies on aging.
authors.affiliation: Division of Molecular Neurobiology, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: B M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Spruijt
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D000818:Animals; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D007257:Information Theory; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012919:Social Behavior; D013223:Statistics as Topic