The Resident-intruder Paradigm: A Standardized Test for Aggression, Violence and Social Stress

Abstract

This video publication explains in detail the experimental protocol of the resident-intruder paradigm in rats. This test is a standardized method to measure offensive aggression and defensive behavior in a semi natural setting. The most important behavioral elements performed by the resident and the intruder are demonstrated in the video and illustrated using artistic drawings. The use of the resident intruder paradigm for acute and chronic social stress experiments is explained as well. Finally, some brief tests and criteria are presented to distinguish aggression from its more violent and pathological forms.

Deep sleep after social stress: NREM sleep slow-wave activity is enhanced in both winners and losers of a conflict

“…On the fourth day, aggressive behavior of the residents was recorded and analyzed for 10 min after the first attack. As common in this test, all residents attacked and defeated the intruder (Koolhaas et al, 2013).…”

“…The animals were individually housed under a 12-h light/12-h dark cycle with lights on from 10.00 to 22.00 h. Housing rooms had stable temperature (21 ± 1°C) and humidity (60 ± 2%) and water and food were provided ad libitum throughout the experiment. Before the start of the experiment, the aggression levels of the experimental animals were characterized based on their attack latencies and amount of aggressive behavior during a standard resident-intruder test (see for procedure video publication by Koolhaas et al, 2013). In short, the animals were confronted in their home cage with a younger intruder on four consecutive days.…”

Aggressiveness as a component of fighting ability in pigs using a game-theoretical framework

“…Aggressiveness was estimated by the residenteintruder (RI) test at 9 weeks of age. The RI test is an established test in behavioural research that is undertaken to obtain a quantifiable measure of individual aggressiveness (Koolhaas et al, 2013). In pigs the RI test has been shown to be consistent over time (D'Eath, 2004) and to be predictive of aggressiveness when animals are mixed with multiple unfamiliar animals .…”

Moderate Stress-Induced Social Bonding and Oxytocin Signaling are Disrupted by Predator Odor in Male Rats

“…In monogamous rodents such as prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster), a variety of stressors drive increased affiliative behaviors with a pair-bonded opposite-sex mate, resulting in dampened stress responses (reviewed in Beery and Kaufer, 2015). Yet in non-pair-bonded or nonmonogamous social relationships, stress is often construed as an initiator of social unrest or aggression, such as in residentintruder (Koolhaas et al, 2013) or social defeat paradigms (Blanchard et al, 2001). The link between stress and aggression is particularly prominent among male rodents.…”