scholarly journals Wistar rats and C57BL/6J mice differ in their motivation to seek social interaction versus food in the Social versus Food Preference Test

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.J. Reppucci ◽  
L.A. Brown ◽  
A.Q. Chambers ◽  
A.H. Veenema
Keyword(s):  
Food Deprivation ◽  
Wistar Rats ◽  
Food Preference ◽  
Preference Test ◽  
Social Stimulus ◽  
Prefer Food ◽  
Stimulus Preference ◽  
The Social ◽  
Behavioral Paradigm ◽  
Interaction Versus

ABSTRACTHere we characterized the Social versus Food Preference Test, a behavioral paradigm designed to investigate the competition between the choice to seek social interaction versus the choice to seek food. We assessed how this competition was modulated by internal cues (social isolation, food deprivation), external cues (time-of-testing, stimulus salience), sex (males, females), age (adolescents, adults), and rodent model (Wistar rats, C57BL/6J mice). We found that changes in stimulus preference in response to the internal and external cue manipulations were similar across cohorts. Specifically, social over food preference scores were reduced by food deprivation and social familiarly in Wistar rats and C57BL/6J mice of both sexes. Interestingly, the degree of food deprivation-induced changes in stimulus investigation patterns were greater in adolescents compared to adults in Wistar rats and C57BL/6J mice. Strikingly, baseline stimulus preference and investigation times varied greatly between rodent models: across manipulations, Wistar rats were generally more social-preferring and C57BL/6J mice were generally more food-preferring. Adolescent Wistar rats spent more time investigating the social and food stimuli than adult Wistar rats, while adolescent and adult C57BL/6J mice investigated the stimuli a similar amount. Neither social isolation nor time-of-testing altered behavior in the Social versus Food Preference Test. Together, our results indicate that the Social versus Food Preference Test is a flexible behavioral paradigm suitable for future interrogations of the peripheral and central systems that can coordinate the expression of stimulus preference related to multiple motivated behaviors.HIGHLIGHTSRats prefer social over food when sated, and this is attenuated by food deprivation.Mice have no preference when sated, and prefer food over social when food-deprived.Rats prefer a familiar social stimulus or a novel social stimulus over food.Mice prefer food over a familiar social stimulus.Adolescent rats investigate social and food stimuli longer than adult rats.GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

scholarly journals The Social versus Food Preference Test: A behavioral paradigm for studying competing motivated behaviors in rodents

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Reppucci ◽  
Alexa H Veenema
Keyword(s):  
Food Preference ◽  
Preference Test ◽  
Motivational State ◽  
Appropriate Behavior ◽  
The Social ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Behavioral Paradigm ◽  
Natural Settings ◽  
Motivated Behaviors ◽  
Rats And Mice

Abstract Behavior is influenced by a combination of factors, with the expression of the appropriate behavior dependent on an individual’s current motivational state and the presence of stimuli in their surrounding environment. Thus far, most laboratory studies have focused on uncovering the peripheral and central systems that regulate the expression of a single behavior or the expression of a suite of behaviors associated with a single motivational state. In natural settings, however, an individual can be simultaneously experiencing multiple motivational states with multiple choices of how to act. Yet, the direct assessment of the roles of peripheral and central systems in coordinating motivated behavioral choice is largely understudied. This may be due to a lack of behavioral tests that are suitable for such investigations. Here, we describe a recently developed behavioral paradigm, hereafter called the Social versus Food Preference Test. This behavioral paradigm was validated in both rats and mice and is highly flexible, which will allow addressing of a wide range of research questions concerning the peripheral and central systems that coordinate the choice to seek social interaction versus the choice to seek food.

Increase in Aggression and in Strength of the Social Hierarchy among Juvenile Atlantic Salmon Deprived of Food

1968 ◽  
Vol 25 (11) ◽  
pp. 2387-2401 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip E. K. Symons
Keyword(s):  
Atlantic Salmon ◽  
Direct Effect ◽  
Salmo Salar ◽  
Food Deprivation ◽  
Aggressive Behaviour ◽  
Social Hierarchy ◽  
Small Fish ◽  
Social Hierarchies ◽  
Equal Status ◽  
The Social

Aggressive behaviour of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) parr, tested in groups of eight, was greater during 3 days of deprivation of food than during 3 days of feeding. Frontal and lateral displaying appeared to increase more than charging and nipping. Increased agression was only partly a result of increased locomotion, and therefore was partly a direct effect of hunger.Strong social hierarchies developed, larger fish nipping smaller ones more than the reverse. The correlation between size and hierarchical status was usually sufficient to account for the strength of hierarchy observed.Upon deprivation of food the dominant of any pair of socially unequal fish on the average increased its nipping of the subordinate. The nipping rate of dominants by subordinates did not change consistently; many low ranking fish decreased their nipping rate upon deprivation. These results would strengthen hierarchies during deprivation. Initiation of attacks by small fish, as opposed to nipping, increased consistently during deprivation.Nipping was more frequent between fish of equal status and size than between fish of unequal status or size. This could have accounted for the strength of hierarchies in groups in which the correlation between size and position was insufficient to do so.The increase in aggression upon food deprivation could function to increase the size of feeding territories when food is scarce. This and the strengthening of hierarchies would cause emigration of some fish from the area. Concentration of aggression between fish of equal size and status could permit parr of different ages to coexist.

scholarly journals Effect of demonstrator reliability and recency of last demonstration on acquisition of a socially transmitted food preference

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (6) ◽  
pp. 172391 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura A. Agee ◽  
Marie-H. Monfils
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Food Preference ◽  
Safety Information ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Novel Food ◽  
Food Research ◽  
Naive Observer ◽  
The Social ◽  
Direct Competition ◽  
State Of The Environment

In the social transmission of food preference paradigm, naive observer rats acquire safety information about novel food sources in the environment through social interaction with a demonstrator rat that has recently eaten said food. Research into the behavioural mechanisms governing this form of learning has found that observers show increased reliance on socially acquired information when the state of the environment makes personal examination of their surroundings risky. We aimed to (1) determine whether reliance on social information would decrease if previous reliance on social learning was unsuccessful, and (2) whether reliance on the specific demonstrator that had transmitted poor information would similarly decrease. By inducing illness in observers following consumption of a socially demonstrated food, we created an environmental situation in which reliance on socially acquired information was maladaptive. We found that under these conditions, observers showed no change in their reliance on a specific demonstrator or socially learned information in general. Our experiment also unexpectedly produced results showing that recent demonstrators were more influential in later transmissions than demonstrators that had been learned from less recently. Notably, this effect only emerged when the observer simultaneously interacted with both demonstrators, indicating that demonstrators must be in direct competition for this effect to manifest.

Enhanced choice of familiar food in a food preference test after chlordiazepoxide administration

1978 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven J. Cooper ◽  
Yvonne M. T. Crummy
Keyword(s):  
Food Preference ◽  
Preference Test
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