The effects of age and isolation period on two phases of behavioral response to foot shock in isolation-reared rats.
Using rats as subjects, the effects of a period of isolation and the subjects' age during isolation on the response to foot shock were systematically examined in three experiments. Both the thresholds of shock that evoked a jumping response and that evoked a thrashing response were measured. The results suggest that the threshold for jumping response decreased when rats were isolated during the postweaning stage of development. On the other hand, the threshold for thrashing response decreased when the subjects were isolated for more than 39 days, independently of their age during isolation. Possible causes of the differential effects of these two factors are discussed in relation to the developmental process of these two behavioral indices.
Department of Psychology, School of Letters, Nagoya University, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan. a00103d@mbox.media.nagoya-u.ac.jp
Hiroyuki
H
Arakawa
D000367:Age Factors; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D004597:Electroshock; D005528:Foot; D008297:Male; D017288:Pain Threshold / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012934:Social Isolation / Q000523:psychology*; D013997:Time Factors