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Failure of repeated peer separations to induce depression in infant rhesus monkeys
Author(s) -
Porsolt Roger D.
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
drug development research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.582
H-Index - 60
eISSN - 1098-2299
pISSN - 0272-4391
DOI - 10.1002/ddr.430030609
Subject(s) - depression (economics) , psychology , distress , maternal deprivation , primate , separation (statistics) , physiology , developmental psychology , medicine , neuroscience , clinical psychology , economics , macroeconomics , machine learning , computer science
Three rhesus monkeys (two female, one male) were separated from their mothers shortly after birth and were brought up together in a group cage. After 90 days together, they were subjected to eight repeated separations of 4–6 days during which they were housed in individual cages. Separations 7 and 8 were preceded by “vertical chamber” confinement of 3 and 8 days, respectively. Separation caused a marked increase in vocalizations. Although at times signs of depression (decreased locomotion, huddling) were apparent, they were neither frequent nor stable and did not seem to depend on either the length or the number of separations. It was concluded that social separation, although inducing clear signs of distress, does not invariably cause depression in infant rhesus monkeys.