N E van de Poll, J Smeets, H G van Oyen, S M van der Zwan
{"title":"Behavioral consequences of agonistic experience in rats: sex differences and the effects of testosterone.","authors":"N E van de Poll, J Smeets, H G van Oyen, S M van der Zwan","doi":"","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The effects of winning or losing on subsequent aggressive behavior in male and female rats were studied. By using three strains of rats with different levels of aggression, a procedure was developed to create winners and losers. Subsequently, winners were tested against losers. Behavioral analysis of all tests enabled a thorough study of these processes and of their consequences. The results indicate that significant and relatively permanent behavioral changes are induced in intact and castrated, testosterone-treated males but not in females. The results suggest that behavioral inhibition is a specific characteristic of the male's agonistic behavioral repertoire.</p>","PeriodicalId":15394,"journal":{"name":"Journal of comparative and physiological psychology","volume":"96 6","pages":"893-903"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"1982-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of comparative and physiological psychology","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The effects of winning or losing on subsequent aggressive behavior in male and female rats were studied. By using three strains of rats with different levels of aggression, a procedure was developed to create winners and losers. Subsequently, winners were tested against losers. Behavioral analysis of all tests enabled a thorough study of these processes and of their consequences. The results indicate that significant and relatively permanent behavioral changes are induced in intact and castrated, testosterone-treated males but not in females. The results suggest that behavioral inhibition is a specific characteristic of the male's agonistic behavioral repertoire.