Environment and unconditioned motor behavior: Influences of drugs and environmental geometry on behavioral organization in rats
Year: 1997
Type: article
Abstract: Unconditioned motor behavior is widely used as a behavioral assay for a variety of experimental manipulations. This investigation examined the relationships in rats between effects of drugs (5.0 mg/kg of nomifensine, 5.0 mg/kg of MBDB, and 0.40 mg/kg of heroin) and the geometric properties of the testing environment (a 30.5 × 60.5 cm rectangular chamber, a 40-cm-diam circular chamber, and a 60.5 × 60.5 cm square chamber) using a video-camera-based observation system on measures characterizing the geometrical characteristics of movements. The results show that spatial patterns of movements differ significantly across environments having different geometric properties. The magnitude of drug-induced changes of these patterns can be proportional or inversely proportional to the baseline rate observed in saline animals. These results suggest that, relative to the performance of saline controls, the effect of a drug can be characterized as environmentally dependent, environmentally independent, or environmentally idiosyncratic on the basis of its effect in different environments.
Source: Psychobiology
DOI: 10.3758/bf03331944
Authors: Martin P. Paulus, Mark A. Geyer
Institution: University of California San Diego
Language: English
Subfield: Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W183545981