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Incubator rearing of infant rats without the mother: Effects on adult emotionality and learning
Author(s) -
Thoman Evelyn B.,
Arnold William J.
Publication year - 1968
Publication title -
developmental psychobiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.055
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1098-2302
pISSN - 0012-1630
DOI - 10.1002/dev.420010311
Subject(s) - incubator , emotionality , psychology , open field , developmental psychology , affect (linguistics) , maternal deprivation , physiology , biology , communication , psychiatry , microbiology and biotechnology
Eight newborn rats, from 3 litters, were separated from the mother and reared during the usual 3‐week nursing period in an artificial environment which included an incubator, a warm, moist, pulsating surrogate mother, and special feeding procedures. The incubator animals showed some superiority over mother‐reared littermates in performance on the Hebb‐Williams test; and, on measures taken in the open field, the incubator animals showed a greater change over trials. Contrary to previous experimental results, our findings indicate that, at least in the rat, maternal deprivation may affect behavioral patterns but does not necessarily and inevitably result in a deficit in adult behavior.