Social Behaviour in Rodents Flashcards
What is prosocial behaviour?
A motivated behaviour in which the goal primarily benefits another or improves welfare
What are the three types of pro-social behaviour?
Emotional need (comforting), goal-related need (targeted helping), material need (sharing)
What are examples of affiliative behaviours?
Allogrooming, approach, play, resource sharing
What intervening variable allows for prosocial motivated behaviour?
Empathy
What are two types of empathy?
Affective (vicariously experience another’s emotional state) & Cognitive (capacity to learn and experience another’s perspective)
How do rats behave when their cage-mate is trapped?
They show increased activity while the other rat is trapped and attempt/ learn to open the cage. Females appear to be faster at releasing cage-mate. Rats may even attempt to release cage-mate as opposed to releasing a food reward
What brain regions are involved in prosocial behaviours?
The vomeronasal organ (VNO) is an extension of the olfactory bulb and responds to social olfactory cues like alarm, mating, aggression, stress, food tracking, etc (pheromones). The Medial Amygdala (MeA) receives the VNO projections to mediate social behaviours
What can increase allogrooming behaviour in rats?
When at least one rat had undergone a stressful event
How do neurons in the MeA respond to stressed partners?
Neurons respond differently to stressed vs non-stressed partners (differentiation)
Which MeA neuropeptide is responsible for allogrooming behaviour?
Tac1
