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The ontogeny of exploratory behavior in male and female adolescent rats (Rattus norvegicus)

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Brown2009DevPsychobiology51Ontogeny.pdf (170.2Kb)
Date
09/2009
Author
Lynn, D. A.
Brown, Gillian Ruth
Keywords
Adolescence
Exploration
Novelty
Rats
Sex differences
Elevated plus-maze
Open-field behavior
Anxiety-related behavior
Sex-differences
Emotional behavior
Gender-differences
Risk-taking
Fear
Age
Depression
QL Zoology
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Abstract
During adolescence, rats gain independence from their mothers and disperse from the natal burrow, with males typically dispersing further than females. We predicted that, if dispersal patterns are associated with responsiveness to novelty, exploratory behavior in novel environments would increase across adolescence, and males would explore more than females. Alternatively, females might explore more than males, if females are more motivated than males to learn about the immediate environment or if females have poorer spatial abilities than males. Twenty-five male and 21 female rats were exposed to two novel environments (open field and elevated plus-maze) during early, mid-, or late adolescence. Total locomotion and amount of exploration directed towards aversive areas increased across adolescence, even when body weight was included as a covariate. Female adolescents locomoted more and spent more time exploring aversive areas than males. Developmental changes in neural function potentially underlie age and sex differences in exploratory, behavior (C) 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 51: 513-520, 2009.
Citation
Lynn , D A & Brown , G R 2009 , ' The ontogeny of exploratory behavior in male and female adolescent rats ( Rattus norvegicus ) ' , Developmental Psychobiology , vol. 51 , no. 6 , pp. 513-520 . https://doi.org/10.1002/dev.20386
Publication
Developmental Psychobiology
Status
Peer reviewed
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/dev.20386
ISSN
0012-1630
Type
Journal article
Rights
(c)2009 Wiley Periodicals Inc. OnlineOpen article deposited by permission of the publisher may be used for non-commercial purposes.
Description
Supported by Wellcome Trust grant 078405/Z/05/Z
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  • University of St Andrews Research
URL
http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=70349382879&partnerID=8YFLogxK
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/dev.20386/abstract
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/1643

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