Emotional behavior in the rat. III. The relationship between emotionality and ambulatory activity.

Abstract

Two overt and observable reactions made by the rat to a strange open-field situation are defecation and urination. That these reactions are emotional in nature was amply demonstrated by evidence presented in the first article of this series (1). Another overt form of behavior in the field situation is the amount of running about which the rat manifests. The purpose of this article is to examine the relationship which exists between emotionality as measured by defecation and speed of ambulatory activity as measured by distance traversed per unit time.* CONDITIONS OF THE EXPERIMENT* This investigation was planned to measure relationships other than that of emotionality and activity (2). The data obtained in periods I and IV are the principal ones analyzed in this paper.

Quantifying the buildup in extent and complexity of free exploration in mice

“…For example, in the context of the open field test (1), in which a mouse is forced to explore a novel empty arena, the measures that are mostly used by behavior geneticists and pharmacologists to quantify the behavior are Cumulative Distance Traveled and Percent Time spent in the Center by the animal. The first estimates the animal's level of activity and the second is presumed to estimate its level of anxiety.…”

Social isolation in young rats: Effects of cage size on open-field behavior

“…The results, summarized in Table 1, show that, as cage size increased, there wet'e higher frequencies of ambulation (time spent walking), square entries (distance traveled), and rearing accompanied by greater tendencies to move away from corner squares towards wall and inner ones. Even though all rats appeared "nervous" when picked up, there was no significant effect of cage size on defecation (which is comr!1only regarded as an index of emotional reactivity in rats) (Hall, 1934(Hall, , 1936.…”

Pathological anxiety in animals

“…However, it is undisputed that distinct behavioural and physiological patterns in animals indicate anxiety, i.e. physiological and behavioural changes (see Table 1) known to accompany high sympathetic nervous activity (Hall, 1936). From this, an analogy, if not a homology, between (normal) anxiety in humans and rodents can be assumed (Lang et al, 2000).…”