田鼠
刺激(心理学)
心理学
沟通
发展心理学
生物
认知心理学
生态学
标识
DOI:10.1016/0003-3472(68)90124-3
摘要
Microtus agrestis and Clethrionomys britannicus were maintained under different home pen conditions and tested in a large alley. Ongoing behavioural sequences were continuously recorded and interrupted at set intervals by an overhead moving object. Two main problems were examined. First, does an animal's response to the experimental stimulus vary as a consequence of different ongoing behaviour? Secondly can systematic increases as well as decreases in a seemingly irrelevant (i.e. 'displacement') behaviour be observed? Consequences of the differences in temperament between the two species, of the different home pen conditions, and of different intensities of the experimental disturbance were also explored. When locomotor activity preceded the stimulus presentation, fleeing rather than just freezing was most likely to occur. The role of an underlying 'activity tendency' which need not be expressed in overt locomotion was suggested by the fact that the more docile Microtus was generally more active in the experimental alley, and also fled more than Clethrionomys even when the two species were matched for behaviours preceding the stimulus. This hypothesis was supported by the subsequent finding that locomotor behaviour which had ceased several seconds before the stimulus presentation also increased flight probability. Home pen cover plus trial number influenced flight probability and appeared to combine in their effect with one another and with ongoing locomotion. Other ongoing activities such as grooming appeared on occasion to be momentarily accelerated by the stimulus presentation, but were soon suppressed. Microtus groomed more after the stimulus presentation than during control trials. Clethrionomys groomed less. Microtus also groomed more and Clethrionomys less following a high intensity compared with a low intensity disturbance. These data suggested that the animals were most likely to groom when optimally 'aroused'. A temporal analysis of grooming supported the basic model. A single unitary process, however, could not be assumed. The 'disinhibition hypothesis' was partly supported by the data for grooming, but possible limitations were noted. For example, the relation between grooming and subsequent locomotion was inconsistent. An increase in the apparent intensity of grooming after the stimulus presentation was occasionally observed. Home pen cover had minimal effect upon grooming, probably as a consequence of housing numerous animals together. The relevance of these findings to problems of behavioural integration, and most particularly to the issue of specific versus general motivational systems, is discussed.
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