Effects of Differing Prepuberty Exercise Programs on the Emotionality of Male Albino Rats

Abstract

Abstract The problem under investigation in this study was to determine if differing programs of prepuberty exercise had any effect upon the emotionality of male albino rats at puberty. The subjects were 48 male albino rats of the Sprague-Dawley strain who were subjected to a 35-day training program under conditions of sedentary existence, voluntary exercise, or forced exercise. At the end of the experimental period the animals were tested in an open field marked into 49 consecutively numbered 7 1/2-in. squares. Emotionality in the open field was determined by two methods: (a) the total number of squares traversed by an animal in 5 min., and (b) the total number of squares traversed by an animal toward the center of the field. The relationship between exploratory behavior and emotionality is considered to be an inverse one, that is, the more exploratory the behavior, the less emotionality the animal exhibits. The results indicated that the animals which had been subjected to the forced exercise regimen tr...