Title: | Development of locomotion toward home nesting material in neonatal rats |
ISSN/ISBN: | 0012-1630 (Print) 0012-1630 (Linking) |
Abstract: | "Neonatal rats were individually placed in a narrow choice zone between home and fresh nesting materials. At Day 2 postpartum the pups made significantly more home-choosing responses (vs responses for fresh nesting material). At a mean of 5.6 days (range, 4 to 9 days) the pups reached a criterion of 2 consecutive days of responses all for home nesting material. The number of head contacts increased abruptly upon reaching the criterion. In a 2nd experiment we observed that the pups which were repeatedly tested performed no better than those which were tested for the 1st or the 2nd time. Thus, (a) home-seeking responses appear to emerge substantially earlier than previously reported by other investigators, (b) head-contact responses appear to be related to successful home-chossing, and (c) some maturational rather than experiential factors are important for the development of both head-contact and home-choosing responses" |
Keywords: | "Aging Animals Animals, Newborn/*physiology *Locomotion *Nesting Behavior Pheromones/pharmacology Practice, Psychological Rats Reaction Time;" |
Notes: | "MedlineSczerzenie, V Hsiao, S eng 1977/07/01 Dev Psychobiol. 1977 Jul; 10(4):315-21. doi: 10.1002/dev.420100405" |