The current status of two sublines of the Roman High and Low Avoidance strains.

Abstract

Experiments are described which assess the behavioral status of two sublines of the Roman High and Low Avoidance strains which have been maintained by brother x sister mating without selection at the Institute of Psychiatry, University of London. The strains demonstrate significant differences in the avoidance behavior for which they were originally selected. However, the Low Avoiding strain did show some high-scoring individuals and a degree of selection pressure was consequently applied to this line. The results of this selection and the performance of these strains in an open field are reported. The data are discussed in the light of a recent report that other sublines no longer display differences in avoidance conditioning.