Abstract
Male and female rats were exposed to environmental enrichment or impoverishment for 55-64 days after weaning. Medial amygdaloid lesions or control operations were then followed by consumatory, activity, predation, and shuttle-avoidance tests. Amygdaloid lesions reduced daily water consumption and prandial drinking, increased novel foods consumption and activity, impaired predatory behavior, and facilitated avoidance acquisition. Female rats showed increased rejection of quinine solution, more activity, more rapid predation, and superior avoidance when compared with males. Prior environmental enrichment decreased entrance latency into an open field, increased activity, and facilitated both predation and avoidance acquisition. The sex of the subjects interacted with lesion effects in both open-field and predation tests, while both sex and enrichment interacted with lesion effects on avoidance. Sex and enrichment interacted in open-field and avoidance tests. It is suggested that both sex and enrichment modify the behavioral effects of amygdaloid lesions by contributing in different ways to levels of generalized arousal.
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The authors wish to thank Miriam Brooks and Roger Tsang, who kindly provided the cockroaches used in this experiment, John Q. Imholte, who fearlessly delivered them, and C. S. Kemble, for her expert technical assistance.
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Kemble, E.D., Davies, V.A. Effects of prior environmental enrichment and amygdaloid lesions on consumatory behavior, activity, predation, and shuttlebox avoidance in male and female rats. Psychobiology 9, 340–346 (1981). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03326991
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03326991