Display Of Postures Research Articles

Sex impacts pain behaviour but not emotional reactivity of lambs following ring tail docking.

Studies in humans have shown sex differences in response to painful events, however, little is known in relation to sex differences in sheep. Understanding sex differences would enable improved experimental design and interpretation of studies of painful procedures in sheep. To examine sex differences in response to pain, 80 lambs were tested across five cohorts of 16. The lambs were penned in groups containing two male and two female lambs with their respective mothers. Lambs were randomly allocated from within each block to one of four treatment groups; FRing-Female lamb, ring tail docked without analgesia, MRing-Male lamb, ring tail docked without analgesia, FSham-Female lamb, tail manipulated and MSham-Male lamb, tail manipulated. Following treatment, lambs were returned to their pen and were video recorded for 45 mins for behavioural observations of acute pain and posture. An hour after treatment, lambs then underwent an emotional reactivity test that consisted of three phases: Isolation, Novelty and Startle. Following treatment, Ring lambs displayed more abnormal postures (mean = 2.5±0.5) compared to Sham lambs (mean = 0.05±0.4, P=0.0001). There was an effect of sex on the display of acute pain-related behaviours in lambs that were tail docked (P<0.001), with female lambs displaying more acute behaviours (mean count = +2.2). This difference in behaviour between sexes was not observed in Sham lambs. There was no effect of sex on display of postures related to pain (P=0.99). During the Novelty and Startle phase of the emotional reactivity test, Ring lambs tended to (P=0.084) or did (P=0.018) show more fear related behaviours, respectively. However, no effect of sex was observed. The results of this study indicate that a pain state may alter the emotional response of lambs to novel objects and potential fearful situations. It was also demonstrated that female lambs display increased sensitivity to the acute pain caused by tail docking compared to males.

Acoustic and postural displays in a miniature and transparent teleost fish, Danionella dracula.

Acoustic behavior is widespread across vertebrates, including fishes. We report robust acoustic displays during aggressive interactions for a laboratory colony of Danionella dracula, a miniature and transparent species of teleost fish closely related to zebrafish (Danio rerio), which are hypothesized to be sonic based on the presence of a hypertrophied muscle associated with the male swim bladder. Males produce bursts of pulsatile sounds and a distinct postural display - extension of a hypertrophied lower jaw, a morphological trait not present in other Danionella species - during aggressive but not courtship interactions. Females show no evidence of sound production or jaw extension in such contexts. Novel pairs of size-matched or -mismatched males were combined in resident-intruder assays where sound production and jaw extension could be linked to individuals. In both dyad contexts, resident males produced significantly more sound pulses than intruders. During heightened sonic activity, the majority of the highest sound producers also showed increased jaw extension. Residents extended their jaw more than intruders in size-matched but not -mismatched contexts. Larger males in size-mismatched dyads produced more sounds and jaw extensions compared with their smaller counterparts, and sounds and jaw extensions increased with increasing absolute body size. These studies establish D. dracula as a sonic species that modulates putatively acoustic and postural displays during aggressive interactions based on residency and body size, providing a foundation for further investigating the role of multimodal displays in a new model clade for neurogenomic and neuroimaging studies of aggression, courtship and other social interactions.

Cultivating Affection‐Laden Hierarchy: Embodied Moral Socialization of Vòng Tay (Khoanh Tay) with Children in Southern Vietnam

AbstractBy adopting a discursive practice approach, this work examines how embodied deference rituals were practiced by Vietnamese children in the Mekong Delta region. Sixty‐two video‐recorded events of vòng tay/khoanh tay performed by 23 children (ages 1.5 to 12 years) were identified; of those, 51 events performed by 12 preschool‐aged children were most rigorous and demanding. On the occasions of greeting/departing, thanking, and apology/discipline and through various communicative channels, four‐generation caregivers played different roles to coach children in proper postural display and verbal respect with affection. Children actively participated in these recurrent family interactions and acquired the cultural meaning of affection‐laden social hierarchy at a young age. Such socialization practices ensure the stability of a hierarchical structure, strengthen the mutual bond between novices and their seniors or superiors, and lay the sociocultural foundation of politeness, filial piety, and sacrifice in the family and in society at large.[affection, embodied moral socialization, social hierarchy, Vietnamese children]

Interaction between postpartum stage and litter age on maternal caregiving and medial preoptic area orexin.

Most maternal caregiving behaviors change across lactation to match the developmental needs of the continuously aging offspring. However, it is mostly unknown whether the dams' postpartum stage or litter age is the primary driving force of these changes. In this study, postnatal day 1 and 8 litters were cross-fostered or in-fostered to postpartum day 1 or 8 dams. Five days later, undisturbed observations of maternal caregiving behaviors were performed on the subsequent two days. We found a main effect of dams' postpartum stage on the frequency that mothers spent with the pups and displayed erect postures over them (hovering over and kyphosis), although it was mostly driven by an interaction between postpartum stage and litter age: early-postpartum dams were in contact with younger litters and in erect postures more often with younger litters compared to later-postpartum dams with younger litters. Additionally, there was an interaction between postpartum stage and litter age on the litter weights because older litters living with later-postpartum dams were heavier than older litters living with early-postpartum dams. There was also an interaction between postpartum stage and litter age on the dams' bodyweight, with early-postpartum dams living with younger litters weighing the least and later-postpartum dams living with younger litters weighing the most. Because activity of the neuropeptide, orexin, within the medial preoptic area (mPOA) has been implicated in maternal nursing and other caregiving behaviors, we measured mPOA levels of orexin-A but it was not affected by postpartum stage or litter age (nor was there an interaction). However, high orexin-A was negatively associated with the frequency of contact with pups and the display of erect postures. These results indicate that changes in caregiving across lactation are driven by endogenous factors in the dams, age-related cues they receive from offspring, and interactions between these factors.

Design and implementation of ergonomic risk assessment feedback system for improved work posture assessment

ABSTRACTErgonomic risk factors which include force, repetition and awkward postures, can result in Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders (WMSDs) among workers. Hence, systems that provide real-time feedback to the worker concerning his current ergonomic behaviours are desirable. This paper presents the design and implementation of a human-machine interface posture assessment feedback system whose conceptual model is developed through a model-driven development perspective using the Unified Modeling Language (UML) and interface flow diagrams. The resulting system provides a shop floor with a simple, cost-effective and automatic tool for real-time display of worker's postures. Testing the system on volunteer participants reveals that it is easy to use, achieves real-time posture assessment and provides easy-to-understand feedback to workers. This system may be useful for reducing the rate of occurrence of awkward postures, one of the contributing factors to risk of WMSDs among workers.

Triggers of the Postural Display of Courtship in Drosophila persimilis Flies

D. persimilis courtship shows some flexibility and courting males sometimes perform an elaborate postural display in addition to the standard courtship behaviours shared by most Drosophila species. This postural display includes the acrobatic contortion and tremulation of their abdomen, accompanied by the generation of substrate-borne vibrations, and they proffer a nutritional droplet to the female. Here, we use courtship and choice assays to ask what triggers this display and what advantages males may gain from it during courtship. In pair assays, we found no differences in the courtship duration and copulation success between displaying and non-displaying males. In trio assays, however, the female always mated with the male who performed the display. To investigate what promotes the male display, we varied the level of receptivity of the female and studied the impact of a second male. We found that rejection by the female does not induce the male to display, contrary to what was previously suggested. We present evidence that the male display is in fact promoted by the presence of an attentive and sexually receptive female and the absence of male competition, with the greatest exhibition rate obtained if the courted female is starved. These findings provide valuable information about the social ecology of flies, and how internal and external cues influence sexual behaviours and mate choice.

Winners, losers, and posers: The effect of power poses on testosterone and risk-taking following competition

A contribution to a special issue on Hormones and Human Competition.The effect of postural power displays (i.e. power poses) on hormone levels and decision-making has recently been challenged. While Carney et al. (2010) found that holding brief postural displays of power leads to increased testosterone, decreased cortisol and greater economic risk taking, this failed to replicate in a recent high-powered study (Ranehill et al. 2015). It has been put forward that subtle differences in social context may account for the differences in results. Power displays naturally occur within the context of competitions, as do changes in hormones, and researchers have yet to examine the effects of poses within this ecologically relevant context. Using a large sample of 247 male participants, natural winners and losers of a physical competition were randomly assigned to hold a low, neutral or high-power postural display. We found no main effect of pose type on testosterone, cortisol, risk or feelings of power. Winners assigned to a high-power pose had a relative, albeit small, rise in testosterone compared to winners who held neutral or low-power poses. For losers, we found little evidence that high-power poses lead to increased testosterone relative to those holding neutral or low-powered poses. If anything, the reverse was observed – losers had a reduction in testosterone after holding high-power poses. To the extent that changes in testosterone modulate social behaviors adaptively, it is possible that the relative reduction in testosterone observed in losers taking high-powered poses is designed to inhibit further “winner-like” behavior that could result in continued defeat and harm. Still, effects were small, multiple comparisons were made, and the results ran counter to our predictions. We thus treat these conclusions as preliminary.

The Elaborate Postural Display of Courting Drosophila persimilis Flies Produces Substrate-Borne Vibratory Signals.

Sexual selection has led to the evolution of extraordinary and elaborate male courtship behaviors across taxa, including mammals and birds, as well as some species of flies. Drosophila persimilis flies perform complex courtship behaviors found in most Drosophila species, which consist of visual, air-borne, gustatory and olfactory cues. In addition, Drosophila persimilis courting males also perform an elaborate postural display that is not found in most other Drosophila species. This postural display includes an upwards contortion of their abdomen, specialized movements of the head and forelegs, raising both wings into a “wing-posture” and, most remarkably, the males proffer the female a regurgitated droplet. Here, we use high-resolution imaging, laser vibrometry and air-borne acoustic recordings to analyse this postural display to ask which signals may promote copulation. Surprisingly, we find that no air-borne signals are generated during the display. We show, however, that the abdomen tremulates to generate substrate-borne vibratory signals, which correlate with the female’s immobility before she feeds onto the droplet and accepts copulation.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10905-016-9579-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Pain communication through body posture: The development and validation of a stimulus set

Pain can be communicated nonverbally through facial expressions, vocalisations, and bodily movements. Most studies have focussed on the facial display of pain, whereas there is little research on postural display. Stimulus sets for facial and vocal expressions of pain have been developed, but there is no equivalent for body-based expressions. Reported here is the development of a new stimulus set of dynamic body postures that communicate pain and basic emotions. This stimulus set is designed to facilitate research into the bodily communication of pain. We report a 3-phase development and validation study. First 16 actors performed affective body postures for pain, as well as happiness, sadness, fear, disgust, surprise, anger, and neutral expressions. Second, 20 observers independently selected the best image stimuli based on the accuracy of emotion identification and valence/arousal ratings. Third, to establish reliability, this accuracy and valence rating procedure was repeated with a second independent group of 40 participants. A final set of 144 images with good reliability was established and is made available. Results demonstrate that pain, along with basic emotions, can be communicated through body posture. Cluster analysis demonstrates that pain and emotion are recognised with a high degree of specificity. In addition, pain was rated as the most unpleasant (negative valence) of the expressions, and was associated with a high level of arousal. For the first time, specific postures communicating pain are described. The stimulus set is provided as a tool to facilitate the study of nonverbal pain communication, and its possible uses are discussed.

Sex differences in canary ( Serinus canaria ) provisioning rules

I investigated how male and female captive canaries (Serinus canaria) decide to divide resources among their nestlings. Specifically, I examined whether parents partitioned food in proportion to the size-related competitive prowess of their young or their postural begging intensity. Females responded to both aspects of nestling behaviour. They allocated food in relation to the height attained by offspring during begging as well as the intensity of their postural display. When the brood was especially hungry, mothers additionally favoured offspring at the front of the nest, nearest their perch position. By contrast, males allocated food only in relation to competitive ability, simply by preferring offspring that reached higher during begging. I compare these findings with previous work on other species and discuss why females changed their provisioning rules in relation to brood hunger.

Behaviour, coagulopathy and pathology of brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) poisoned with brodifacoum

Brodifacoum is a second-generation anticoagulant rodenticide used widely for controlling brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) in New Zealand. We determined its toxic effects on possums to make inferences about the welfare of brodifacoum-poisoned possums. Caged possums were fed a lethal dose of brodifacoum in cereal baits then either bled and killed 4, 8, 12, 16 or 20 days later to establish the effects on blood-clotting, or observed for behavioural changes until death. Blood-clotting time was prolonged 8 days after possums first began ingesting brodifacoum and time to death was 20.7 ± 1.7 days (mean ± s.e.m.). Clinical signs of poisoning, including changed appearance, pale noses and external bleeding, appeared from 14 days after initial poisoning (7 days before death). Possums gradually became inactive and lethargic, typically crouching and lying in abnormal postures for 6 days before death. Feed intake reduced concurrently, resulting in significant loss of body weight of 5.9 ± 2.1%. All possums had widespread, usually severe, haemorrhaging. Internal haemorrhages first appeared in all possums 8 days after initial ingestion. These haemorrhages, and consequent blood loss, may cause distress, pain, weakness or sickness, and this is supported by evidence from humans and other animals. Reduced feed intake, inactivity, lethargy and the display of abnormal postures suggest that possums do experience distress for at least 6 days before death.

Negative Association Between Conspicuous Visual Display and Chemosensory Behavior in Two Phrynosomatid Lizards

Communication in one sensory modality can influence communication in others. Lizards in many phrynosomatid species use primarily visual but also chemical signals. The striped plateau lizard, Sceloporus virgatus, exhibits evolutionary loss of a male color signal that in many species is used during aggressive postural displays towards conspecific males. These patches are used similarly in Urosaurus, the sister genus to Sceloporus. We compared a species in which a color signal has been lost, S. virgatus, to a species retaining the ancestral character state of blue abdominal display patches, Urosaurus ornatus, the common tree lizard, to test two hypotheses: (i) conspicuous postural displays that reveal the abdominal patch location are used less in the species that has lost the color patches; and (ii) potential chemical signals are used more in the species with the color loss. We analyzed both visual display behavior (push‐up, full‐show) and chemosensory behavior (tongue flick and nose tap) of male lizards following their introduction to a resident conspecific male in his home terrarium. Resident males performed very low rates of all behaviors, but intruders exhibited sufficient behavior for analysis.Supporting the first hypothesis, S. virgatus were less likely than U. ornatus to perform full‐show, a display that reveals abdominal skin. Male S. virgatus were more likely to perform push‐up than U. ornatus, although S. virgatus performed push‐up infrequently. Push‐up is a postural display that does not specifically reveal the abdominal patch location. Supporting the second hypothesis, S. virgatus were more likely to perform chemosensory behaviors and performed them at a greater rate than did U. ornatus. Work comparing more closely related species is warranted to determine whether a negative association between conspicuous visual displays and chemosensory behavior is a general pattern.

Involvement of a midbrain vocal nucleus in the production of both the acoustic and postural components of crowing behavior in Japanese quail.

Many bird species produce vocalizations which are accompanied by distinctive postural displays, but the neural mechanisms that allow such integrated production of vocal and postural motor patterns are not understood. In the crowing behavior of Japanese quail, a characteristic vocal pattern is accompanied by and coordinated with a postural display that consists of a sequence of rapid, patterned head movements. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the role of a midbrain vocal nucleus, the nucleus intercollicularis, in the production of the acoustic and postural components of crowing in quail. Brief electrical stimuli were applied to the nucleus intercollicularis during spontaneously emitted crows in quail with chronically implanted electrodes, to determine if perturbing neural activity in the nucleus intercollicularis resulted in a disruption of ongoing crowing behavior. The most common effect of such stimuli was a concurrent, premature termination of both the acoustic and head movement components of the crow. These results imply that the nucleus intercollicularis plays a role in the production of both the acoustic and postural components of crowing in quail.

Calling Behavior in Female Western Corn Rootworm Beetles (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)

A postural display by female western corn rootworm beetles, Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte, was examined in relation to age, mating, and time of day and characterized as a calling or sex pheromone-releasing behavior. Calling was observed in the laboratory on the day that teneral females emerged from the soil, although frequency of the behavior did not peak until a day later. Females called throughout the day but were most active during the first half of photophase on a photoperiod of 14 :10 (L :D) h. Virgin females mated significantly faster and in greater numbers if they had recently engaged in calling activity. Most females ceased calling within 24 h after insemination. Volatiles collected from calling females and used to bait sticky traps exposed in corn fields were significantly more attractive to feral western and northern corn rootworms, D. barberi Smith & Lawrence, than were volatiles from females that did not call. Responses to the latter differed little if any from responses to controls collected from apparatus without females.

Defeat engenders pentylenetetrazole-appropriate responding in rats: antagonism by midazolam.

Defeat and the threat of defeat by an aggressive conspecific is stressful and may engender an anxiety- or fear-like state in animals; the present experiment investigated whether defeat generalized to the discriminative stimulus properties of PTZ and how benzodiazepine receptors were involved in this generalization. Separate groups of male Long-Evans rats (Rattus norvegicus) were trained to discriminate 20 mg/kg pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) or 0.4 mg/kg midazolam (MDZ) from saline in a two-choice drug-discrimination task. After establishing stimulus control, PTZ- and MDZ-trained rats were exposed to an aggressive conspecific which resulted in defeat, as defined by the display of defensive and submissive postures as well as audible and ultrasonic vocalizations. Administration of saline after defeat resulted in greater than 80% PTZ lever selection in 15 out of 25 PTZ-trained rats; this effect was attenuated through pretreatment with MDZ (1 mg/kg). Furthermore, short-term defeat substitution for the PTZ discriminative stimulus was not accompanied by long-term changes in the post-defeat generalization curves for PTZ and MDZ when compared to pre-defeat generalization curves. Nor did defeat alter the antagonism of PTZ by diazepam (2.5 mg/kg) or MDZ by flumazenil (10 mg/kg). In order further to characterize the necessary features for defeat substitution for the PTZ discriminative stimulus, exposure to a threatening conspecific was also attempted by PTZ-trained rats protected from physical contact with a wire mesh cage. In these tests, saline continued to engender greater than 50% PTZ lever responding in 15 of 25 rats.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Correlates of Agonistic Display By Great Tits Parus Major

This study examined physical and social correlates of agonistic display performance by wild great tits Parus major competing over food and territorial space. All behavioural data were collected at winter feeding stations from individually colour-ringed birds for which data on physical characteristics, current social status and individual history were available. At feeders, competitive interactions between males were more frequent than those involving females, and birds not present in previous winters (mostly first-winter birds) interacted more frequently than prior residents (locally territorial adults). Interactions away from food sources usually involved at least one male, increased in frequency over the course of the winter, and often involved chasing of one bird by another. These interactions are thought to reflect competition for territorial space. Males were almost always dominant over females in competitive interactions. Simple supplants were most frequent in intersexual interactions, with display being more often seen in interactions between birds of the same sex. In intrasexual interactions, there were no consistent differences between the sexes in frequency of use of displays, but there was a general trend for postural display elements to be performed more often by eventual dominants than by eventual subordinates. Displays based on 'head-up' tended to be performed by prior resident, locally dominant, territorial males. Their incidence increased over the course of the winter, and they were especially associated with non-feeder interactions. Displays based on 'wings-out' and 'tail-fanning' were associated with non-territorial, first-year birds that were less frequently occurring at the study site, and tended to occur in cases where the opponents had little prior experience of each other. Displays based on head up were performed almost exclusively in intraspecific interactions, whereas those based on wings out and tail fanning were also common in contests over food with blue P. caeruleus and coal tits P. ater, in which the great tit was usually dominant.

Development of dominance in domestic rats in laboratory and seminatural environments

Dominance hierarchies were studied in mixed-sex colonies of albino rats Rattus norvegicus reared and housed in three different types of physical environments. Colonies were observed. In either an outdoor pen, an indoor pen, or in laboratory cases for a period of 24 weeks initiated at 35 days of age. In both pen colonies, male dominance relationships were based on the asymmetric display of biting attacks by dominants and the unequivocal display of submissive postures by subordinates. These behaviours did not fully develop, nor did dominance emerge until males were 140–150 days of age. No asymmetric display of attacks and submission, nor dominance relationships were observed in two different types of laboratory cage settings; these males continued to play fight throughout adulthood. However, males of all colony types attacked male intruders. The nature of the physical environment appeared to have a powerful influence on the development of dominance, but did not affect agonistic behaviour directed toward intruders.

Acute and chronic effects of the triazolobenzo-diazepine, alprazolam, on defeat and analgesia evoked by conspecific attack in male mice

Behavioural and pharmacological evidence suggest that non-opioid analgesia in defeated male mice is a consequence of anxiety provoked by ecologically relevant aspects of the stimulus situation. The effects of acute and chronic alprazolam (0.05-2.0mg/kg, i.p.) treatment on basal nociception, defeat behaviour and analgesia evoked by conspecific attack are assessed. Results show that basal nociception (tail-flick assay) was unaffected by acute or chronic drug treatment, and that attack-induced analgesia was unaltered by acute administration of 0.05-0.50mg/kg alprazolam. Higher acute doses (1-2mg/kg) of the compound inhibited locomotor activity, markedly interfered with the display of defeat postures and resulted in the exposure of intruders to higher than normal levels of attack. Though 1mg/kg alprazolam (acute) significantly inhibited the analgesic consequences of conspecific attack, this effect went at a higher dose. Chronic drug administration led to the development of tolerance to the inhibitory effects of higher alprazolam doses on locomotor activity and, over the dose range 0.5-2mg/kg, to the complete inhibition of analgesic consequences of conspecific attack. Nonetheless, mice treated chronically with 0.5-2mg/kg still failed to display defeat within the maximum time allotted for encounters, suggesting that this behavioural effect may be a valid index of anxiolytic activity. Data are discussed in relation to the possible involvement of panic in intruder analgesia.

Naloxone partially antagonizes post-encounter analgesia and enhances defensive responding in male rats exposed to attack from lactating conspecifics

Recent evidence indicates that inter-male conflict in mice, but not rats, results in opiate-like analgesia in defeated animals. To test the hypothesis that differences in attack intensity/controllability may underlie this apparent species difference, male rats were exposed to non-ritualized attack from lactating conspecifics. In response to such encounters, male intruders exhibited significant elevations in tail-flick latency. Pretreatment with low (0.1–1.0 mg/kg), but not high (10 mg/kg), doses of naloxone partially antagonized the development of post-encounter analgesia and enhanced several components of male defensiveness during encounters. These results suggest that exposure to attack from lactating conspecifics activates both opioid and nonopioid analgesia mechanisms in male intruders. Correlational analyses revealed, however, that intruder analgesia was not related to the number of attacks received or the display of submissive postures. Data are discussed with reference to the possible importance of psychological factors in the activation of endogenous pain inhibitory mechanisms in rats.

Intraspecies aggression in rats: effects of d-amphetamine and chlordiazepoxide.

d-Amphetamine sulfate and chlordiazepoxide hydrochloride, administered to either the dominant or subordinate rat, altered several components of fighting behavior in a dose-dependent biphasic manner. Stereotypic sequences of attack, threat, defense, and submission were generated between pairs of previously isolated Sprague-Dawley rats by extinction of a food-reinforced response. Low doses of amphetamine (0.05, 0.1 mg/kg) and chlordiazepoxide (2.5, 5.0 mg/kg) given i.m. to the dominant rat 30 min prior to 15 min tests increased attack bites and leaps and the display of aggressive postures and threats, whereas higher doses of both drugs (0.5, 1.0 mg/kg amphetamine; 20 mg/kg chlordiazepoxide) suppressed attacks and threats. Amphetamine and chlordiazepoxide, administered to the subordinate rat, caused a more prolonged display of submissive-supine and defensive-upright postures; chlordiazepoxide (10.0, 20.0 mg/kg) prolonged immobile crouching whereas amphetamine (0.5, 1.0 mg/kg) greatly reduced this response. Drugged subordinate rats also provoked more attacks and threats by the non-drugged opponents. The multi-response analysis of fighting reveals that various elements of aggressive and defensive-submissive behavior patterns are differentially sensitive to drug action. The results indicate that amphetamine and chlordiazepoxide can facilitate or inhibit attack or defense depending on the dose level and which of the opponents was injected, but do not reverse dominance-subordination relationships.