Spontaneous activity of animals; a review of the literature since 1929.

Jd, Reed

doi:10.1037/h0054050

Cited by 45 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 99 publications

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“…Second, that the behavioral impact of sexual experience is to reduce the incentive value of social targets (a female rat) during behavioral estrus such that experienced females no longer prefer female targets to an empty goal box during estrus. Finally, that these increases in behavioral output seen in estrous animals are not likely a result of general arousal as previously suggested [e.g., 19, 33, 37] but rather due to the presence of a motivational state that appears as a function of estrus itself.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 51%

“…The results of Experiment II suggest that the arousal that accompanies the induction of estrus does not simply enhance basal levels of activity, as suggested by others [e.g., 19, 33, 37], but rather selectively enhances behaviors having functional utility for the subjects. If behavioral estrus was in fact producing a motivational state that induced or facilitated male-seeking behavior, then surely such behaviors ought to be most pronounced in those environments most conducive to exploration, and less obvious in small, confined spaces in which no male is obviously present.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 52%

“…Thus, a common and primary component of hunger, thirst, sexual arousal, and drug craving, is thought to be an internal activational state that is necessary for the initiation of goal-seeking behavior. The notion that estrus represents an unlearned, internal activational state is supported by reports that estrus produces increases in spontaneous activity [as cited in 33], running wheel behavior [34, 35], maze exploration [36] and that estrogen itself can increase general locomotor activity [37] and facilitate stimulant-induced locomotion [38, 39]. In the context of the current study, it was therefore presumed that estrus would produce a non-specific increase in general activity that would translate into faster running times in the alley regardless of target.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The effects of sexual experience and estrus on male-seeking motivated behavior in the female rat

Nofrey

Rocha

López

et al. 2008

Physiology & Behavior

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Ovariectomized (OVX) female rats were trained to traverse a straight alley and return to a goal box where they had previously encountered a male rat, a female rat or an empty goal box. The time required to run the alley was used as an index of the subjects' motivation to re-engage the goal box target. Subjects were tested in both estrus and non-estrus, first sexually naïve and then again after sexual experience. Female rats ran most quickly for a male target, most slowly for an empty goal box, and at intermediate speeds for a female target. Sexual experience tended to slow run times for all but male targets. Estrus enhanced approach behavior for males and an empty goal box, but tended to slow the approach toward females, both before and after sexual experience. This latter finding was further investigated in a second experiment in which sexually naïve OVX females were tested during estrus and non-estrus in a locomotor activity apparatus, a runway with an empty goal box, and an open field. Estrus produced no changes in spontaneous locomotion either in the activity box or the open field, but decreased run times in the alley and increased the number of center-square entries in the open-field. Thus, estrus produces increases in sexual motivation that selectively enhance exploratory, presumably male-seeking behavior, but not simple spontaneous locomotion. Keywords sexual motivation; runway; female rats; sexual experience; copulation; estrus; progesterone; estrogen A great deal is known about the sexual behavior of the female rat. For instance, in his seminal work on estrous females, Beach [1] outlined and illustrated a distinction between appetitive and consummatory behaviors, or proceptivity and receptivity, respectively. Receptivity is most closely understood as those behaviors "… which are necessary and sufficient for fertile copulation with a potent male" [1]. Receptive behaviors are those that facilitate the act of copulation, female rats, for example, exhibit displays of lordosis characterized by a crouching, sway-backed posture, with the tail flicked to the side to facilitate the male mounting and intromitting. It is well known that sexual receptivity in the female rat is dependent on the presence of estrogen [e.g, see 2,3,4]. Proceptivity, on the other hand, represents an antecedent condition to the copulatory act. Here the female exhibits solicitation activity that is intended to attract and stimulate the male [1]. In rats, such proceptive behaviors include hopping and darting, ear wiggles, and other orientCorresponding Author: Aaron Ettenberg, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, Voice: 805.893.3682, Fax: 805.893.4303, Email: ettenberg@psych.ucsb In previous work we assessed the motivation of male rats to traverse a straight-alley and enter a goal box where several seconds earlier they had been exposed to one of a variety of target stimuli placed on the opposite side of a Plexiglas partition. Although researchers have long used the runway as a mean...

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 51%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 52%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The effects of sexual experience and estrus on male-seeking motivated behavior in the female rat

Nofrey

Rocha

López

et al. 2008

Physiology & Behavior

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“…Evidence suggests that the carbohydrate-to-protein ratio of the diet is important. Experiments have shown that rats will increase wheel running as the relative amount of carbohydrate is increased (Baumeister, Harkins, & Cromwell, 1964;Chiel & Wurtman, 1981;Collier & Squibb, 1967;Reed, 1947). A report by Richter (1977) on appetite and sugar (a simple carbohydrate) suggests that high levels of carbohydrate may generate excessive wheel running (up to 40,000 revolutions per day).…”

Section: Food Intake and Activitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Activity-based anorexia: A biobehavioral perspective

Epling

Pierce

1988

Int. J. Eat. Disord.

101

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A biobehavioral model of activity‐based anorexia is examined in terms of recent evidence. Strenuous exercise reduces the value of food reinforcement and results in decreased food intake. Reduction of food intake increases the motivational value of physical exercise. This produces an escalation in activity that further suppresses appetite. Cultural practices of diet and exercise initiate this anorexic cycle, and once started the process is resistant to change. These anorexias may be the result of natural selection favoring those organisms that became active in times of food scarcity. Proximate physiological mechanism(s) appear to involve the endogenous opiate system that mediates the relationshp between running and eating. It is argued that classification of human self‐starvation should be based on environmental and/or biological conditions that control food regulation. Activity anorexia may be one instance of such a classification that could account for many instances of “an orexia nervosa”.

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“…( 1961 ) have reported that food-deprived weanling rats show increased stabilimetric activity while similar water-deprived Ss d o not. Both Reed ( 1947 ) and Weasner, Finger, and Reid ( 1960) have concluded that running wheels and stabilimeters yield different data when activity as a function of food deprivation is measured. Both Reed ( 1947 ) and Weasner, Finger, and Reid ( 1960) have concluded that running wheels and stabilimeters yield different data when activity as a function of food deprivation is measured.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Running Activity of Weanling Rats under Food or Water Deprivation

Treichler

Feeney

1965

Psychol Rep

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Two groups of 1 0 weanling rats were placed in running wheels and terminally deprived of either food or water. No significant differences in the amounts of running between groups were observed. However, the food-deprived animals showed significantly greater weight losses and survived for a shorter period. The contention that young animals characteristically show different activity patterns as a consequence of food or water deprivation was not supported.

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Spontaneous activity of animals; a review of the literature since 1929.

Cited by 45 publications

References 99 publications

The effects of sexual experience and estrus on male-seeking motivated behavior in the female rat

The effects of sexual experience and estrus on male-seeking motivated behavior in the female rat

Activity-based anorexia: A biobehavioral perspective

Running Activity of Weanling Rats under Food or Water Deprivation

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