Abstract
The present study compares behavioral changes between two distinct rodent groups, hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) and Wistar rats, when submitted in the same homogeneous experimental situations to a serial conditional discrimination procedure which involves water deprivation and the processing of temporal variables. Both hamsters and rats acquired serial positive conditional discrimination as indicated by higher frequencies of magazine-oriented behavior during the tone followed by reinforcement (T+) and preceded by the feature stimulus light (L) and during the empty interval, than during the tone alone not followed by reinforcement (T-). Rats' frequencies of magazine-oriented behavior were high during T+ and T-, initially during training, and decreased during T- as the training progressed. However, the hamsters' frequencies of magazine-oriented behavior started very low and increased only during T+ as the training progressed. Comparison of the frequencies of magazine-oriented behavior during the empty interval in relation to the frequencies during the preceding L period showed that rats' frequencies remained very high and hamsters' frequencies increased during training. These results suggest that rats and hamsters have different behavioral strategies for the acquisition of a conditional discrimination. The results of the comparisons made in these experiments support the view of the importance of an ecological psychology approach to the understanding of complex learning in animals.
Highlights
Several studies have shown that the control exerted by stimulus contingencies is dependent on motivational, contextual and species-specific variables
Comparison of the frequencies of magazine-oriented behavior during the empty interval in relation to the frequencies during the preceding L period showed that rats’ frequencies remained very high and hamsters’ frequencies increased during training. These results suggest that rats and hamsters have different behavioral strategies for the acquisition of a conditional discrimination
The results show that hamsters - as the literature had already shown for rats - are able to learn complex tasks such as conditional discrimination
Summary
Several studies have shown that the control exerted by stimulus contingencies is dependent on motivational, contextual and species-specific variables. The induced behaviors and their temporal allocation depend on the reinforcement stimulus used: food and water for rats [2], food or intracranial stimulation for hamsters [3,4], or the contextual stimuli present in the experimental box such as water, nesting material and the chance to see other animals, for food-deprived pigeons [5] These effects of motivational and contextual variables on the behavioral organization can be better interpreted if we consider the adaptive and phylogenetic aspects present in the behavioral control and the role of the species-specific responses. Bueno et al [9], studying three groups of rodents, detected differences amongst hamsters and Wistar and McCollum rats, in the temporal allocation of behaviors for long-lasting but not for short-lasting fixed time schedules of water reinforcement These data suggest that different rodents can have different behavioral strategies in similar situations which depend on their different resources for adaptation to the environment
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Schedule a callMore From: Brazilian journal of medical and biological research = Revista brasileira de pesquisas medicas e biologicas
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