Dominance and the Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis

One question in evolutionary biology which is central to understanding reproductive strategies and parental efforts at rearing offspring is why organisms produce certain offspring sex ratios (Trivers and Willard 1973; Charnov 1982). Fisher (1930) argued that since each individual has a mother and a father, both sexes contribute genes equally to the next generation. All else being equal, if members of one sex were overproduced, their ability to reproduce would be limited by the availability of members of the less abundant sex and natural selection would favor any predisposition to produce offspring of the less abundant sex. In this fashion, Fisher reasoned, selection would adjust the offspring sex ratio in an outbreeding population until total parental investment (PI, Trivers 1972) in the two sexes was equal. Fisher (1930) assumed, but did not clearly state, that all parents were alike in their ability to rear reproductively successful sons and daughters (Patterson and Emlen 1980). A model proposed by Trivers and Willard (1973), however, specified how deviations from equal PI may be favored by natural selection according to the influence of maternal condition on the reproduction of offspring. The TriversWillard model proposed that in polygynous species if some condition of mothers (e.g., dominance rank) influences the condition and, as a result, the reproductive success (RS) of sons more than daughters, then selection should result in the evolution and maintenance of mechanisms by which females in poor condition invest less in sons than daughters and/or females in good condition invest more in sons than daughters. This model is particularly relevant for primates, since the majority of species are polygynous (Clutton-Brock and Harvey 1977). Since the dominance rank of a monkey's social group and family has a strong

Our aim is to demonstrate a method of determining the extent to which behavior maximizes fitness. We believe the temporal organization of behavior to be in part dependent on the animal's genetic makeup and subject to natural selection and that behavioral strategies may be as adaptive as structural characters. The question of the adaptiveness of behavior has been found hard to study in the past (Tinbergen 1963) because of the difficulty of quantitative verification of hypotheses. The method presented here tests specifically whether deployment of behavioral options is optimally related to environmental conditions.

Mating Behavior and the Social Hierarchy in Small Flocks of White Leghorns

Faces are highly emotive stimuli and we find smiling or familiar faces both attractive and comforting, even as young babies. Do other species with sophisticated face recognition skills, such as sheep, also respond to the emotional significance of familiar faces? We report that when sheep experience social isolation, the sight of familiar sheep face pictures compared with those of goats or inverted triangles significantly reduces behavioural (activity and protest vocalizations), autonomic (heart rate) and endocrine (cortisol and adrenaline) indices of stress. They also increase mRNA expression of activity-dependent genes (c-fos and zif/268) in brain regions specialized for processing faces (temporal and medial frontal cortices and basolateral amygdala) and for emotional control (orbitofrontal and cingulate cortex), and reduce their expression in regions associated with stress responses (hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus) and fear (central and lateral amygdala). Effects on face recognition, emotional control and fear centres are restricted to the right brain hemisphere. Results provide evidence that face pictures may be useful for relieving stress caused by unavoidable social isolation in sheep, and possibly other animal species, including humans. The finding that sheep, like humans, appear to have a right brain hemisphere involvement in the control of negative emotional experiences also suggests that functional lateralization of brain emotion systems may be a general feature in mammals.

Learning motivated by electrical stimulation of the brain.

In an earlier, separate study, the authors found that human aggression and suicide (a specific aggression-related behavior) were associated with lower levels of CSF 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA), a serotonin metabolite. That study focused on subjects with personality disorders without affective illness. In the present study they examine the life history of aggression and history of suicidal behavior in 12 subjects with borderline personality disorders without major affective disorder. Histories of aggressive behaviors and of suicide attempts were significantly associated with each other, and each was significantly associated with lower 5-HIAA levels. Altered serotonin metabolism may be a highly significant contributing factor to these behaviors in whatever diagnostic group they occur.

Cardiovascular effects of face immersion and factors affecting diving reflex in man.

GIANT NERVE FIBER SYSTEM OF THE CRAYFISH. A CONTRIBUTION TO COMPARATIVE PHYSIOLOGY OF SYNAPSE

In many sexually dimorphic mammal species, the sexes live outside the mating season in separate social groups ('social segregation'). Social segregation occurs in a wide range of environmental conditions, but its cause in unknown. I suggest that social segregation is caused by a lower level of activity synchrony between individuals in mixed-sex groups than in single-sex groups, owing to sex differences in activity rhythm. As a consequence, mixed-sex groups are more likely to break up than single-sex groups, resulting in a predominance of single-sex groups at equilibrium. To test this hypothesis in red deer (Cervus elaphus L.), I developed an index of activity synchronization and showed that deer in mixed-sex groups were significantly less synchronized in their activity than deer in single-sex groups. Thus, low intersexual synchrony in activity can lead to social segregation. However, a lower level of intrasexual (female-female and male-male) activity synchrony within mixed-sex than within single-sex groups implies that additional factors (other than sex differences in foraging rhythm) contribute to the higher degree of instability of mixed-sex groups.

A First Lesson in Econometrics

Hyperactivity and pulmonary edema from rostral hypothalamic lesions in rats.

The ability of fish to recognize and preferentially associate with familiar conspecifics has been well documented in a series of laboratory experiments. In this paper we investigate the schooling preferences of wild female guppies, Poecilia reticulata, in the Upper Tunapuna River in Trinidad and confirm that they do indeed prefer to associate with familiar individuals. The guppies in this river occur in a series of pools that become isolated during the dry season. These fish interact solely with other individuals in their pool for periods of several months at a time and thus have ample opportunity to become accustomed to one another. Our study also reveals that the tendency of female guppies to school with familiar fish declines as the group size in which they naturally live increases. Preferences are strong when there are small numbers of females in a pool, but diminish thereafter. This indicates that the expression of familiarity is constrained by group size. The basis of recognition and the consequences of schooling preferences for familiar individuals are discussed.

A "best estimate" diagnosis is one made by expert clinicians on the basis of diagnostic information from direct interview conducted by another clinician plus information from medical records and from reports of family members. The authors address the question of whether the best estimate procedure can enhance the classification of psychiatric diagnoses of subjects who are interviewed directly. Four hundred seventy-five subjects were interviewed directly: 201 opiate-addicted probands who sought treatment from a university-based clinic and 274 of their spouses and/or first-degree relatives. Subjects were interviewed by trained clinical assessors using the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia and classified according to Research Diagnostic Criteria. Two psychologists independently diagnosed the same subjects by applying the best estimate procedure. Lifetime rates of major and minor depressive disorder, antisocial personality, alcoholism, and drug abuse were calculated. The rates of diagnoses made on the basis of direct interviews alone were compared with the rates of diagnoses made according to the best estimate procedure. Higher rates of diagnoses of all four disorders were made when the best estimate procedure was applied than when direct interview alone was used; the best estimate procedure also resulted in a minimal rate of false positives. The higher rate of diagnoses based on the best estimate procedure may represent an enhancement in the accuracy of psychiatric diagnoses or an increase in erroneous diagnoses. The authors consider the second possibility less likely.

Glutamate receptors of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) and non-NMDA type serve different functions during excitatory synaptic transmission. Although many central neurons bear both types of receptor, the evidence concerning the sensitivity of cerebellar Purkinje cells to NMDA is contradictory. To investigate the receptor types present in Purkinje cells, we have used whole-cell and outside-out patch-clamp methods to record from cells in thin cerebellar slices from young rats. At a holding potential of -70 mV (in nominally Mg(2+)-free medium, with added glycine) NMDA caused a whole-cell current response which consisted of a dramatic increase in the frequency of synaptic currents. In the presence of tetrodotoxin (TTX) and the gamma-aminobutyric acidA (GABAA) receptor antagonist bicuculline, spontaneous synaptic currents and responses to NMDA were inhibited. In a proportion of cells a small polysynaptic response to NMDA persisted, which was further reduced by the non-NMDA receptor antagonist 6-cyano-2,3-dihydro-7-nitroquinoxalinedione (CNQX). The non-NMDA glutamate receptor agonists kainate (KA), quisqualate (QA) and s-alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoazolepropionic acid (s-AMPA), evoked large inward currents due to the direct activation of receptors in Purkinje cells. NMDA applied to excised membrane patches failed to evoke any single-channel currents, whereas s-AMPA and QA caused small inward currents accompanied by marked increases in current noise. Spectral analysis of the s-AMPA noise in patches gave an estimated mean channel conductance of approximately 4 pS.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

ARTICLESA field and circuit thermodynamics for integrative physiology. III. Keeping the books--a general experimental methodA. S. IberallA. S. IberallPublished Online:01 Mar 1978https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpregu.1978.234.3.R85MoreSectionsPDF (4 MB)Download PDF ToolsExport citationAdd to favoritesGet permissionsTrack citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInWeChat Previous Back to Top Next Download PDF FiguresReferencesRelatedInformation Cited ByNovel molecular insights into ATP synthesis in oxidative phosphorylation based on the principle of least actionChemical Physics Letters, Vol. 796Inadequacies of the Computer MetaphorA Dynamical Basis for Action SystemsChapter IVa An Ecological Approach to Perception and ActionWhat muscle variable(s) does the nervous system control in limb movements?4 February 2010 | Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Vol. 5, No. 4A speech-motor-system perspective on nervous-system-control variables4 February 2010 | Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Vol. 5, No. 4Servos and regulators in the control of leg muscles4 February 2010 | Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Vol. 5, No. 4The stick insect as a model for 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alone is insufficient4 February 2010 | Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Vol. 5, No. 4Motor control: Which themes do we orchestrate?4 February 2010 | Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Vol. 5, No. 4The motor system controls what it senses4 February 2010 | Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Vol. 5, No. 4How modest is the gain of the stretch reflex?4 February 2010 | Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Vol. 5, No. 4Tonic stretch reflex during voluntary activity4 February 2010 | Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Vol. 5, No. 4Reflex action in the context of motor control4 February 2010 | Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Vol. 5, No. 4How was movement controlled before Newton?4 February 2010 | Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Vol. 5, No. 4The importance of connective tissue within and between muscles4 February 2010 | Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Vol. 5, No. 4Control of limb movement without feedback from muscle afferents4 February 2010 | Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Vol. 5, No. 4Movement control: Signal or strategy?4 February 2010 | Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Vol. 5, No. 4Neurological ballistic movements: Sampled data or intermittent open-loop control4 February 2010 | Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Vol. 5, No. 4Motor equivalence and distributed control: Evidence for nonspecific muscle commands4 February 2010 | Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Vol. 5, No. 4Reductionism cannot answer questions of movement control4 February 2010 | Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Vol. 5, No. 4Must the nervous system be limited to afferent variables in the control of limb movement?4 February 2010 | Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Vol. 5, No. 4Movement control views: From diversity to unity4 February 2010 | Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Vol. 5, No. 4Systems Analysis of Hormone ActionPatterns of Human Interlimb Coordination Emerge from the Properties of Non-Linear, Limit Cycle Oscillatory ProcessesJournal of Motor Behavior, Vol. 13, No. 4 More from this issue > Volume 234Issue 3March 1978Pages R85-R97 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