Place conditioning reveals the rewarding aspect of social interaction in juvenile rats.

Title

Place conditioning reveals the rewarding aspect of social interaction in juvenile rats.

Creator

Calcagnetti D J; Schechter M D

Publisher

Physiology & behavior

Date

1992
1992-04

Description

Rewards, as diverse as food, sweetened solutions, copulation, electrical brain stimulation, and drugs abused by humans, have been shown to condition place preferences in rats. Juvenile rats will readily learn to traverse a T-maze for the opportunity to interact with another similar-aged rat. This suggests that play behavior is rewarding. Experiment 1 examined whether play (as quantified by rough-and-tumble pinning) would act as a sufficient reward to condition a place preference (CPP). Experiment 2 examined whether pairings with a nonplaying partner would decrease the time spent in the preferred side and thus suggest a conditioned place aversion (CPA). In Experiment 1, dominant juvenile rats were given free access to a CPP apparatus and a side preference for one of the two physically distinct sides was determined. Dominant rats were then conditioned twice daily over four days in the CPP apparatus. They spent their first session confined in their preferred side with a scopolamine-treated partner (that rendered the partner unable to respond to play solicitations) and during the second session, dominant rats were confined to their less preferred side with a submissive play partner. The number of dorsal contacts, as well as frequency and duration of pinning, were recorded. Following conditioning, side preference was redetermined. A similar procedure was used in Experiment 2 except that the subjects underwent conditioning on their less-preferred side without a play partner. Results of Experiment 1 demonstrated that the dominant rats significantly increased (198.6%) the time spent on the originally less-preferred side after play conditioning.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Subject

*Conditioning; *Motivation; *Social Behavior; *Social Environment; *Social Isolation; Animals; Classical/drug effects; Female; Inbred Strains; Male; Motor Activity/drug effects; Play and Playthings; Rats; Scopolamine/pharmacology; Social Dominance

Rights

Article information provided for research and reference use only. All rights are retained by the journal listed under publisher and/or the creator(s).

Pages

667–672

Issue

4

Volume

51

Citation

Calcagnetti D J; Schechter M D, “Place conditioning reveals the rewarding aspect of social interaction in juvenile rats.,” NEOMED Bibliography Database, accessed March 29, 2024, https://neomed.omeka.net/items/show/3310.