Abstract
Different groups of intact, gonadectomized, and gonadectomized plus testosterone-treated male and female rats were exposed to an autoshaping procedure in order to investigate the contribution of gonadal hormones to the behavioral differences between intact male and female rats observed in these procedures. Stimulus presentation (5-sec extension of a lever and illumination of the stimulus light above the lever) occurred on a variable-time 25-sec schedule and was followed by the presentation of response-independent food. Intact, castrated, and testosterone-treated males showed more signtracking than intact or gonadectomized females. Testosterone-treated females contacted the CS more often than did intact females. Differences between groups of males were not observed. Between-sex comparisons revealed that intact and gonadectomized males responded more frequently than intact or gonadectomized females; differences between testosterone-treated males and females were not observed. As such, the results of the present experiment suggest that testosterone may play an important role in mediating sex differences in the acquisition of autoshaped responding.
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This research was conducted while Annemieke van Hest was supported by a grant from the Dutch Organization for the Advancement of Basic Research (ZWO 560-258-024) awarded to Frans van Haaren.
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Van Hest, A., Van Haaren, F. The effects of gonadectomy and chronic testosterone suppletion on the autoshaped response of male and female Wistar rats. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 27, 45–48 (1989). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03329893
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03329893