How do we characterize temperament? Broad testing of temperament across time and contexts in low-variable conditions

McMahon, Elyse K.; Farhan, Saaniya; Cavigelli, Sonia A.

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2022.10.007

Cited by 5 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 80 publications

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“…We found consistency in the time spent in isolation, the index for sociability, but the degree of consistency differed based on the group. Sociality is reported as a robust trait in rats (61). Although sociability measured by the three-chamber test did not appear in the four principal components, this finding suggests the presence of consistent sociability tendencies in our subjects.…”

Section: Individual Differences In Social Relationshipscontrasting

confidence: 59%

“…It is possible that the influence of the exploration-avoidance and shyness-boldness axes was progressively smaller, and the influence of activity level was greater, instead. A study on laboratory rats reported activity was consistent across time and context (61). Given this, it seems reasonable that the influence of activity strongly appeared after acclimation to the physical and social environment.…”

Section: Relationships Between Measured Personality Traits and Social...mentioning

confidence: 93%

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An exploratory study of behavioral traits and the establishment of social relationships in female laboratory rats

Hakataya,

Katsu,

Okanoya

et al. 2023

Preprint

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There is growing evidence that social relationships influence individual fitness through various effects. Clarifying individual differences in social interaction patterns and determinants for such differences will lead to better understanding of sociality and its fitness consequences for animals. Behavioral traits are considered one of the determining factors of social interaction. The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of individual behavioral traits on social relationship building in rats, a highly social species. Initially, the following behavioral characteristics were measured in individuals: tameness (glove test), activity (open field test), exploration (novel object test), sociability (three-chamber test), and boldness (elevated plus maze test). We then used DeepLabCut to behaviorally track three groups of four individuals (12 total) and analyze social behaviors such as approach and avoidance behaviors. Principal component analysis based on behavioral test results detected behavioral traits interpreted as related to exploration, boldness, activity, and tameness, but not sociability. In addition, behavioral tracking results showed consistent individual differences in social behavior indices such as isolation time and partner preference. Furthermore, we found that different components were correlated with different phases of social behavior; exploration and boldness were associated with the early stages of group formation, whereas activity was associated with later stages of relationship building. From these results, we derived hypothesize that personality traits related to the physical and social environment have a larger influence in the relationship formation phase, and the behavioral trait of activity becomes important in the maintenance phase of relationships. Future studies should examine this hypothesis by testing larger group sizes and ensuring there is no bias introduced into group composition.

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Section: Individual Differences In Social Relationshipscontrasting

confidence: 59%

Section: Relationships Between Measured Personality Traits and Social...mentioning

confidence: 93%

An exploratory study of behavioral traits and the establishment of social relationships in female laboratory rats

Hakataya,

Katsu,

Okanoya

et al. 2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Our procedure meets most requirements for the personality tests: (1) it includes a combination of the same as well as different multiple individual behavioural measurements (2) estimated in different but overlapping spatial and temporal contexts (i.e. measured in the same experimental compartment in sequential assays) and (3) repeated over time [ 4 , 8 , 31 , 33 , 34 ]. This allows testing for the consistency of multivariate among-individual differences in behaviour across contexts and over time—a key characteristic of personality.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To assess the temporal and contextual consistency of individual responses (i.e. the key attributes of personality), the same individuals must be measured repeatedly within a context and across contexts, as this is the only way to estimate the contribution of among-individual differences to behavioural variation and establish whether or not individuals consistently differ [ 4 , 33 ]. In particular, to estimate contextual consistency, personality tests should measure the same or similar behaviours (associated, for example, with boldness) in multiple assays in different contexts [ 31 , 34 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multi-assay approach shows species-associated personality patterns in two socially distinct gerbil species

Tchabovsky,

Surkova,

Savinetskaya

2024

PLoS ONE

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We aimed to investigate whether two closely related but socially distinct species of gerbils differ in personality patterns. Using a suit of multivariate repeated assays (docility test, dark-light emergence test, startle test, novel object test, elevated platform test, and stranger test), we assessed contextual and temporal consistency of docility, boldness, exploration, anxiety, and sociability in the solitary midday gerbil, Meriones meridianus, and social Mongolian gerbil, M. unguiculatus. We revealed contextually consistent and highly repeatable sex-independent but species-specific personality traits. Species differed in temporal repeatability of different behaviours, and contextual consistency was more pronounced in solitary M. meridianus than in social M. unguiculatus. This finding contradicts the social niche specialization hypothesis, which suggests that personality traits should be more consistent in more social species. Instead, we hypothesize that social complexity should favour more flexible and less consistent behavioural traits. The habituation effect indicative of learning abilities was weak in both species yet stronger in social M. unguiculatus, supporting the relationship between the sociality level and cognitive skills. In both species, only a few different behavioural traits covaried, and the sets of correlated behaviours were species-specific such that the two species did not share any pair of correlated traits. Between-species differences in personality traits, habituation, and behavioural syndromes may be linked to differences in sociality. The lack of prominent behavioural syndromes is consistent with the idea that context-specific individual behavioural traits might be favoured to allow more flexible and adequate responses to changing environments than syndromes of correlated functionally different behaviours.

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“…As we did not perform personality tests multiple times, we cannot confirm the repeatability of behavioral traits. Previous studies report that activity-related behavior (distance traveled) in rats show higher consistency than others [ 46 , 62 ], so we assume that PC3 (activity level) in our results may be a consistent component.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 51%

An exploratory study of behavioral traits and the establishment of social relationships in female laboratory rats

Hakataya,

Katsu,

Okanoya

et al. 2023

PLoS ONE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

There is growing evidence that social relationships influence individual fitness through various effects. Clarifying individual differences in social interaction patterns and determinants for such differences will lead to better understanding of sociality and its fitness consequences for animals. Behavioral traits are considered one of the determining factors of social interaction. The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of individual behavioral traits on social relationship building in laboratory rats (Rattus norvegicus), a highly social species. Initially, the following behavioral characteristics were measured in individuals: tameness (glove test), activity (open field test), exploration (novel object test), sociability (three-chamber test), and boldness (elevated plus maze test). We then used DeepLabCut to behaviorally track three groups of four individuals (12 total) and analyze social behaviors such as approach and avoidance behaviors. Principal component analysis based on behavioral test results detected behavioral traits interpreted as related to exploration, boldness, activity, and tameness, but not sociability. In addition, behavioral tracking results showed consistent individual differences in social behavior indices such as isolation time and partner preference. Furthermore, we found that different components were correlated with different phases of social behavior; exploration and boldness were associated with the early stages of group formation, whereas activity was associated with later stages of relationship building. From these results, we derived hypothesize that personality traits related to the physical and social environment have a larger influence in the relationship formation phase, and the behavioral trait of activity becomes important in the maintenance phase of relationships. Future studies should examine this hypothesis by testing larger group sizes and ensuring there is less bias introduced into group composition.

show abstract

How do we characterize temperament? Broad testing of temperament across time and contexts in low-variable conditions

Cited by 5 publications

References 80 publications

An exploratory study of behavioral traits and the establishment of social relationships in female laboratory rats

An exploratory study of behavioral traits and the establishment of social relationships in female laboratory rats

Multi-assay approach shows species-associated personality patterns in two socially distinct gerbil species

An exploratory study of behavioral traits and the establishment of social relationships in female laboratory rats

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