Shaping social behavior in an enriched environment
Access to vital needs shapes social orders. In rats, social systems tend to maintain a certain stability, but alterations in the physical environment can change inter-individual relations, which consequently can alter social orders. Principles governing social systems are, however, difficult to stud...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-10-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnbeh.2022.999325/full |
| _version_ | 1797995565907181568 |
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| author | Liliana Amorim Liliana Amorim Sandro Dá Mesquita Sandro Dá Mesquita Luís Jacinto Luís Jacinto Magda J. Castelhano-Carlos Magda J. Castelhano-Carlos Nadine Correia Santos Nadine Correia Santos Hugo Leite-Almeida Hugo Leite-Almeida Nuno Sousa Nuno Sousa |
| author_facet | Liliana Amorim Liliana Amorim Sandro Dá Mesquita Sandro Dá Mesquita Luís Jacinto Luís Jacinto Magda J. Castelhano-Carlos Magda J. Castelhano-Carlos Nadine Correia Santos Nadine Correia Santos Hugo Leite-Almeida Hugo Leite-Almeida Nuno Sousa Nuno Sousa |
| author_sort | Liliana Amorim |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Access to vital needs shapes social orders. In rats, social systems tend to maintain a certain stability, but alterations in the physical environment can change inter-individual relations, which consequently can alter social orders. Principles governing social systems are, however, difficult to study and most analyses have been restricted to dyads of animals over short periods of time, hardly capturing the complexity and temporal dynamics of social interactions. Herein, we studied social interactions in a colony of six rats living in a customized enriched environment (PhenoWorld, PhW), under variable conditions of access/availability to limited resources. Reductions in food accessibility and availability resulted in a marked heterogeneity in sniffing, chasing and fighting/struggling behaviors, and, in the latter condition, an overall increase of these displays. The introduction of the possibility of interaction with a female rat also increased the amount of sniffing and fighting/struggling in a homogeneous manner. Results also showed that individual food retrieval success had no association with fighting/struggling when food pellets are delivered to the animals. However, there was a statistically significant correlation between fighting/struggling and impulsivity as measured by the amount of premature responses in the Variable-to-Signal-Test outside of the PhW providing external validation to our measures. To sum up, through continuous monitoring of a group of rats in the PhW, we demonstrated how variations in access to reinforcers modulate social behavior. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T10:02:33Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1eafbfb61bc242419b2aa4ffb77d1984 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1662-5153 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T10:02:33Z |
| publishDate | 2022-10-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience |
| spelling | doaj.art-1eafbfb61bc242419b2aa4ffb77d19842022-12-22T04:30:19ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience1662-51532022-10-011610.3389/fnbeh.2022.999325999325Shaping social behavior in an enriched environmentLiliana Amorim0Liliana Amorim1Sandro Dá Mesquita2Sandro Dá Mesquita3Luís Jacinto4Luís Jacinto5Magda J. Castelhano-Carlos6Magda J. Castelhano-Carlos7Nadine Correia Santos8Nadine Correia Santos9Hugo Leite-Almeida10Hugo Leite-Almeida11Nuno Sousa12Nuno Sousa13Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga, PortugalICVS/3B’s – PT Government Associate Laboratory, Guimarães, PortugalLife and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga, PortugalICVS/3B’s – PT Government Associate Laboratory, Guimarães, PortugalLife and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga, PortugalICVS/3B’s – PT Government Associate Laboratory, Guimarães, PortugalLife and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga, PortugalICVS/3B’s – PT Government Associate Laboratory, Guimarães, PortugalLife and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga, PortugalICVS/3B’s – PT Government Associate Laboratory, Guimarães, PortugalLife and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga, PortugalICVS/3B’s – PT Government Associate Laboratory, Guimarães, PortugalLife and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga, PortugalICVS/3B’s – PT Government Associate Laboratory, Guimarães, PortugalAccess to vital needs shapes social orders. In rats, social systems tend to maintain a certain stability, but alterations in the physical environment can change inter-individual relations, which consequently can alter social orders. Principles governing social systems are, however, difficult to study and most analyses have been restricted to dyads of animals over short periods of time, hardly capturing the complexity and temporal dynamics of social interactions. Herein, we studied social interactions in a colony of six rats living in a customized enriched environment (PhenoWorld, PhW), under variable conditions of access/availability to limited resources. Reductions in food accessibility and availability resulted in a marked heterogeneity in sniffing, chasing and fighting/struggling behaviors, and, in the latter condition, an overall increase of these displays. The introduction of the possibility of interaction with a female rat also increased the amount of sniffing and fighting/struggling in a homogeneous manner. Results also showed that individual food retrieval success had no association with fighting/struggling when food pellets are delivered to the animals. However, there was a statistically significant correlation between fighting/struggling and impulsivity as measured by the amount of premature responses in the Variable-to-Signal-Test outside of the PhW providing external validation to our measures. To sum up, through continuous monitoring of a group of rats in the PhW, we demonstrated how variations in access to reinforcers modulate social behavior.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnbeh.2022.999325/fullsocial behaviorratsenriched environmentimpulsivitycompetition |
| spellingShingle | Liliana Amorim Liliana Amorim Sandro Dá Mesquita Sandro Dá Mesquita Luís Jacinto Luís Jacinto Magda J. Castelhano-Carlos Magda J. Castelhano-Carlos Nadine Correia Santos Nadine Correia Santos Hugo Leite-Almeida Hugo Leite-Almeida Nuno Sousa Nuno Sousa Shaping social behavior in an enriched environment Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience social behavior rats enriched environment impulsivity competition |
| title | Shaping social behavior in an enriched environment |
| title_full | Shaping social behavior in an enriched environment |
| title_fullStr | Shaping social behavior in an enriched environment |
| title_full_unstemmed | Shaping social behavior in an enriched environment |
| title_short | Shaping social behavior in an enriched environment |
| title_sort | shaping social behavior in an enriched environment |
| topic | social behavior rats enriched environment impulsivity competition |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnbeh.2022.999325/full |
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