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Using the 'stranger test' to assess social competency in adult female Long Evans rats reared with a Fischer 344 partner.
- Source :
-
Behavioural processes [Behav Processes] 2021 Nov; Vol. 192, pp. 104492. Date of Electronic Publication: 2021 Aug 31. - Publication Year :
- 2021
-
Abstract
- Rats reared with limited access to a play partner during the juvenile period develop into adults with impairments in various cognitive, emotional, and social skills. The present study assesses the consequences of play deprivation on adult social skills in female Long Evans (LE) rats that were reared with a low-playing Fischer 344 rat over the juvenile period. As adults, their social skills were assessed using the stranger paradigm, by pairing the deprived LE rats with a novel LE partner in a neutral arena. While the deprived rat engages its partner in play there were alterations in key aspects of play, such as reduced pinning and a longer latency to begin playing, that suggest there are impairments in the social ability of the deprived rat. Most notable were the changes in the behaviour of the typically reared partner, a reduction in the amount of play it initiated and fewer actions that produced reciprocal and prolonged interactions. The changes in the behaviour of the normally reared partner suggest that it detected subtle changes in the play deprived LE rats. These findings support the hypothesis that peer-peer play experiences during the juvenile period are important for the development of socio-cognitive skills.<br /> (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
- Subjects :
- Animals
Female
Rats
Rats, Long-Evans
Social Skills
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1872-8308
- Volume :
- 192
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Behavioural processes
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 34478804
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2021.104492