Scanning behavior of rats during eating under stressful noise.
Behavioral ecological theories postulate that threatening environments should increase eating speed and vigilance during feeding. In the present experiment, eating speed and scanning behavior during eating were measured in 36 rats in 5 consecutive test sessions under stressful noise (95 dB white noise, n = 18) and control conditions (60 dB, n = 18) after the animals had been habituated to the test environment. Intense noise induced an increase of scanning rate and eating speed. These effects are similar to those reported for novel and light environments.
Krebs
H
H
Lehrstuhl für Biologische und Klinische Psychologie, Bayerische Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Germany.
Weyers
P
P
Macht
M
M
Weijers
H G
HG
Janke
W
W
D000818:Animals; D001143:Arousal; D005133:Eye Movements; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D008297:Male; D009622:Noise; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D011930:Reaction Time; D012931:Social Environment; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology