Fimbria-fornix lesions and sexual-social behavior of the guinea pig.
Male and female guinea pigs were given fimbria-fornix lesions and their sexual-social activity was compared to lesioned control animals. The lesions reduced the sexual and aggressive behavior of the male guinea pig. In the female, on the other hand, aggression towards the male increased during attempted copulation. Both experimental and control animals were given an open-field activity test. It was found that fimbria-fornix lesioned animals displayed less activity than did their control counterparts. These results were consistent with earlier findings and were related to previous observations of decorticate rats. It was suggested that the hippocampal output via the fimbria-fornix during sexual-social behavior plays a role in selecting motor patterns appropriate for the motivational state of the animal.
Sainsbury
R S
RS
Department of Psychology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Jason
G W
GW
D000374:Aggression / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D005106:Exploratory Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D020712:Fornix, Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D006168:Guinea Pigs; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D012919:Social Behavior