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Social Transmission of Avoidance Behavior under Situational Change in Learned and Unlearned Rats

BACKGROUND: Rats receive information from other conspecifics by observation or other types of social interaction. Such social interaction may contribute to the effective adaptation to changes of environment such as situational switching. Learning to avoid dangerous places or objects rapidly occurs w...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Masuda, Akira, Aou, Shuji
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2009
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2728840/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19710921
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0006794
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author Masuda, Akira
Aou, Shuji
author_facet Masuda, Akira
Aou, Shuji
author_sort Masuda, Akira
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Rats receive information from other conspecifics by observation or other types of social interaction. Such social interaction may contribute to the effective adaptation to changes of environment such as situational switching. Learning to avoid dangerous places or objects rapidly occurs with even a single conditioning session, and the conditioned memory tends to be sustained over long periods. The avoidance is important for adaptation, but the details of the conditions under which the social transmission of avoidance is formed are unknown. We demonstrate that the previous experience of avoidance learning is important for the formation of behaviors for social transmission of avoidance and that the experienced rats adapt to a change of situation determined by the presence or absence of aversive stimuli. We systematically investigated social influence on avoidance behavior using a passive avoidance test in a light/dark two-compartment apparatus. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Rats were divided into two groups, one receiving foot shocks and another with no aversive experience in a dark compartment. Experienced and inexperienced rats were further divided into subjects and partners. In Experiment 1, each subject experienced (1) interaction with an experienced partner, (2) interaction with an inexperienced partner, or (3) no interaction. In Experiment 2, each subject experienced interaction with a partner that received a shock. The entering latency to a light compartment was measured. The avoidance behavior of experienced rats was inhibited by interaction with inexperienced or experienced partners in a safely-changed situation. The avoidance of experienced rats was reinstated in a dangerously-changed situation by interaction with shocked rats. In contrast, the inexperienced rats were not affected by any social circumstances. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These results suggest that transmitted information among rats can be updated under a situational change and that the previous experience is crucial for social enhancement and inhibition of avoidance behavior in rats.
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spelling pubmed-27288402009-08-27 Social Transmission of Avoidance Behavior under Situational Change in Learned and Unlearned Rats Masuda, Akira Aou, Shuji PLoS One Research Article BACKGROUND: Rats receive information from other conspecifics by observation or other types of social interaction. Such social interaction may contribute to the effective adaptation to changes of environment such as situational switching. Learning to avoid dangerous places or objects rapidly occurs with even a single conditioning session, and the conditioned memory tends to be sustained over long periods. The avoidance is important for adaptation, but the details of the conditions under which the social transmission of avoidance is formed are unknown. We demonstrate that the previous experience of avoidance learning is important for the formation of behaviors for social transmission of avoidance and that the experienced rats adapt to a change of situation determined by the presence or absence of aversive stimuli. We systematically investigated social influence on avoidance behavior using a passive avoidance test in a light/dark two-compartment apparatus. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Rats were divided into two groups, one receiving foot shocks and another with no aversive experience in a dark compartment. Experienced and inexperienced rats were further divided into subjects and partners. In Experiment 1, each subject experienced (1) interaction with an experienced partner, (2) interaction with an inexperienced partner, or (3) no interaction. In Experiment 2, each subject experienced interaction with a partner that received a shock. The entering latency to a light compartment was measured. The avoidance behavior of experienced rats was inhibited by interaction with inexperienced or experienced partners in a safely-changed situation. The avoidance of experienced rats was reinstated in a dangerously-changed situation by interaction with shocked rats. In contrast, the inexperienced rats were not affected by any social circumstances. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These results suggest that transmitted information among rats can be updated under a situational change and that the previous experience is crucial for social enhancement and inhibition of avoidance behavior in rats. Public Library of Science 2009-08-27 /pmc/articles/PMC2728840/ /pubmed/19710921 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0006794 Text en Masuda, Aou. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Masuda, Akira
Aou, Shuji
Social Transmission of Avoidance Behavior under Situational Change in Learned and Unlearned Rats
title Social Transmission of Avoidance Behavior under Situational Change in Learned and Unlearned Rats
title_full Social Transmission of Avoidance Behavior under Situational Change in Learned and Unlearned Rats
title_fullStr Social Transmission of Avoidance Behavior under Situational Change in Learned and Unlearned Rats
title_full_unstemmed Social Transmission of Avoidance Behavior under Situational Change in Learned and Unlearned Rats
title_short Social Transmission of Avoidance Behavior under Situational Change in Learned and Unlearned Rats
title_sort social transmission of avoidance behavior under situational change in learned and unlearned rats
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2728840/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19710921
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0006794
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