[Modification of the Rat Ethogram by Contagion Behavior].

Abstract

The study was performed on a contagious behavior model based on drinking, behavior in rats. In the presence of familiar drink-motivated conspecific showing drinking behavior (rat-demonstrator), drink-unmotivated rat-viewer begins to demonstrate behavioral signs ofdrinking motivation that is the signs of behavioral contagion. In this paper; the changes in the ethogram of rats-viewers with behavioral contagion were studied by analyzing atransition probabilities matrix. Those animals showed a decrease in the frequency of aggression and defensive behavior patterns simultaneously with an increase in the frequency of exploratory activity, drinking and exploratory approaches to bottles as compared with the ethogram of rats-viewers with no signs of behavioral contagion when tested in the presence of familiar drink-unmotivated con specific-demonstrator.