Independent and Additive Contributions of Postvictory Testosterone and Social Experience to the Development of the Winner Effect

Abstract

The processes through which salient social experiences influence future behavior are not well understood. Winning fights, for example, can increase the odds of future victory, yet little is known about the internal mechanisms that underlie such winner effects. Here, we use the territorial California mouse (Peromyscus californicus) to investigate how the effects of postvictory testosterone (T) release and winning experience individually mediate positive changes in future winning ability and antagonistic behavior. Male mice were castrated and implanted with T capsules to maintain basal levels of this hormone. We found that males form a robust winner effect if they win three separate territorial disputes and experience a single T surge roughly 45 min after each encounter. Meanwhile, males exhibit only an intermediate winner effect if they either 1) acquire three previous wins but do not experience a change in postvictory T or 2) acquire no previous wins but experience three separate T pulses. The results indicate that the effect of postvictory T must be coupled with that of winning experience to trigger the maximum positive shift in winning ability, which highlights the importance of social context in the development of the winner effect. At the same time, however, postvictory T and winning experience are each capable of increasing future winning ability independently, and this finding suggests that these two factors drive plasticity in antagonistic behavior via distinct mechanistic channels. More broadly, our data offer insight into the possible ways in which various species might be able to adjust their behavioral repertoire in response to social interactions through mechanisms that are unlinked from the effects of gonadal steroid action.

Maintenance of dominance status is necessary for resistance to social defeat stress in Syrian hamsters

“…One possible mechanism by which social dominance might modulate neural signaling in the MeA is via androgen receptors. The MeA contains an abundance of androgen receptors [59], and winning agonistic encounters can increase plasma testosterone levels and androgen receptor expression [60, 61]. Altogether, neural activation in the MeA is associated with both increased and decreased defensive behavior, which is likely modulated by neuropeptides and steroid feedback.…”

Perceptions of Intragroup Rejection and Coping Strategies: Malleable Factors Affecting Hispanic Adolescents’ Emotional and Academic Outcomes

“…In other successful interventions, students were exposed to role models, received quality feedback from mentors, or were taught attributional retraining so they came to view social adversity as normal (Inzlicht and Schmader 2012). Nevertheless, more research is needed to determine if people’s belief in controllability can be increased by artificially inducing small positive reinforcements or winning experiences (Fuxjager et al 2011) within the academic realm.…”

Testosterone and reproductive effort in male primates

“…Males in this species show acute increases in testosterone after winning aggressive encounters with intruder males. This testosterone response produces a shorter attack latency and increased likelihood of winning in future interactions, effects that disappear when the response is experimentally blocked (Fuxjager et al 2011a, Oyegbile & Marler 2005, Trainor & Marler 2001, Trainor et al 2004). In a closely related species, the white-footed mouse ( Peromyscus leucopus ), winning produces neither a rise in testosterone, nor an increase in the probability of winning future fights.…”