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Developmental aspects of 2‐way shuttlebox avoidance in the spontaneously hypertensive and normotensive rat
Author(s) -
Sutterer James R.,
DeVito William J.,
Rykaszewski Irene
Publication year - 1981
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.420140503
Subject(s) - psychology , audiology , differential effects , stimulus (psychology) , latency (audio) , avoidance learning , stimulation , arousal , developmental psychology , medicine , neuroscience , cognitive psychology , electrical engineering , engineering
In Experiment I, male and female rats from the spontaneously hypertensive (SHR) and Wistar‐Kyoto (WKYN) normotensive strains were given 1 session of 2‐way shuttlebox avoidance training at 25–26, 35–36, or 45–46 days of age. The avoidance training was preceded by a pretest which consisted of 10 presentations of the compound conditioned stimulus alone in order to assess any differential tendency of the 2 strains to respond to the presentation of novel stimuli. The WKYN rats made a significantly higher number of pretest avoidance responses and achieved a higher level of avoidance performance than SHR rats. In addition, during the pretest, WKYN rats were more active and had a shorter 1st trial latency. In Experiment II, the pretest phase was replicated with a manipulation of the intensity of the auditory cue. Although the WKYN rats had a higher rate of pretest avoidance than SHR rats, the rate of pretest avoidances increased with intensity in both strains. The WKYN rats had a shorter 1st trial latency and a shorter median latency for the 10 trials and were more active than SHR rats during the pretest. These results relate to age‐independent behavioral characteristics of these strains and the question of reactivity to environmental stimulation.