Nocturnality as a Defensive Behavior in the Rat: An Analysis in Terms of Selective Association Between Light and Aversive Stimulation

Lester, Laurie S.; Fanselow, Michael S.

doi:10.1007/bf03399599

Cited by 6 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…There is some degree of stimulus specificity as well. For example, tone C S s show conditional freezing more readily than light CSs (Ayres, Axelrod, Merker, Muchnik, & Vigorito, 1985;Helmstetter & Fanselow, 1989;Kim, Rivers, Bevins, & Ayres, 1996;Lester & Fanselow, 1992;Sigmundi & Bolles, 1983;Sigmundi, Bouton, & Bolles, 1980).…”

Section: Activating Stimulimentioning

confidence: 99%

Species-specific defense reactions: Retrospect and prospect.

Fanselow¹

1997

Learning, Motivation, and Cognition: The Functional Behaviorism of Robert C. Bolles.

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Section: Activating Stimulimentioning

confidence: 99%

Species-specific defense reactions: Retrospect and prospect.

Fanselow¹

1997

Learning, Motivation, and Cognition: The Functional Behaviorism of Robert C. Bolles.

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“…The general purpose was to compare rats' reactions to threat in totally dark or in lighted burrowlike environments. The observation of differences in the ways that rats respond to threat in these environments (Experiment 1) suggests that future studies of rat defensive behavior must not focus exclusively on their behavior in the light (see also Lester & Fanselow, 1992). Because many rats live in the dark, this is particularly true of ethoexperimental studies whose primary objective is to gain insights into how rats defend themselves in their natural environments.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The studies have focused on the responses of rats to various threatening test stimuli, some natural and some more controllable: potential predators (e.g., R. J. Blanchard, Blanchard, Rodgers, & Weiss, 1990), attacking conspecifics (e.g., D. C. Blanchard & Blanchard, 1990a), play-fighting conspecifics (e.g., Pellis, 1988), male conspecifics approaching the nest site (e.g., Stern & Kolunie, 1991), prey (e.g., Pellis et al, 1988), grid shock (Lester & Fanselow, 1992), and dangerous inanimate objects (e.g., . Our own ethoexperimental studies assess the defensive reactions of rats to an airblast (Experiment 1) and to an unfamiliar inanimate object (Experiment 2).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Rat (Rattus norvegicus) defensive behavior in total darkness: Risk-assessment function of defensive burying.

Pinel

Mumby²,

Dastur³

et al. 1994

Journal of Comparative Psychology

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Although rats (Rattus norvegicus) spend much of their lives in the darkness of burrows, defensive behavior in the dark has rarely been studied. We compared rats' reactions to aversive stimuli in dark and lighted 2-alley, burrowlike environments. Experiment 1 assessed reactions to an unsignaled airblast; Experiment 2 assessed neophobic reactions to an unfamiliar steel ball. Half of the rats were tested in light and half, in total darkness. In both experiments rats directed defensive burying and stretched approach toward the aversive stimulus. Darkness increased airblast-induced burying behavior but not burying behavior toward the unfamiliar object; it had no effect on stretched-approach behavior in either experiment. Because the location and nature of the aversive stimulus was ambiguous in Experiment 1 but not in Experiment 2, these results support the hypothesis that risk assessment is one function of defensive-burying behavior.

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“…Illumination condition appears to be a likely candidate. Not only is open field activity affected by illumination levels (e.g., Welker, 1959) but Lester and Faneslow (1992)…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of illumination condition on risk assessment behaviors of mice

Kemble

Goblirsch

1997

Psychol Rec

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Levels of risk assessment evoked by either a synthetic predator odor or noncontact exposure to live rats were examined under white or red light conditions. Defensive responses to the predator odor were infrequent in white light and showed a modest, but reliable, increase under red light. Noncontact exposure to rats, in contrast, produced considerably higher levels of risk assessment than did odors in white light, and these levels were nearly doubled under red light. Judicious selection of eliciting and background stimuli may provide considerable control over the intensity of risk assessment. Such procedures may prove useful for the study of anxiety-like states.

show abstract

Nocturnality as a Defensive Behavior in the Rat: An Analysis in Terms of Selective Association Between Light and Aversive Stimulation

Cited by 6 publications

References 50 publications

Species-specific defense reactions: Retrospect and prospect.

Species-specific defense reactions: Retrospect and prospect.

Rat (Rattus norvegicus) defensive behavior in total darkness: Risk-assessment function of defensive burying.

Effect of illumination condition on risk assessment behaviors of mice

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