Selection of a pedal to obtain reinforcement depending on its value and delay time was used to divide rats into three groups. Animals selecting the valuable but delayed reinforcement in more than 70% of cases were assigned to the self-controlled groups, while those making this choice in fewer than 30% of case were assigned to the impulsive group and rats showing no preference in choosing reinforcement were members of the ambivalent group. The levels of orientational-exploratory activity and anxiety in rats with different types of behavior were then assessed in an elevated plus maze, on acquisition of a conditioned fear reaction (fear conditioning), and in a neophagophobia test (novelty suppressed feeding). The animals which were least active and most anxious in all tests were those of the self-controlled group. Ambivalent rats were the least anxious in the elevated plus maze test and produced the greatest number of successful trials in terms of finding and eating food in the novel context, as compared with rats of the other groups. Impulsive animals demonstrated more marked freezing reactions on acquisition of the conditioned fear reaction in the fear conditioning test and found food more quickly in the novel context.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
M. I. Zaichenko, G. L. Vanetsian, and G. Kh. Merzhanova, “Differences in the behavior of impulsive and self-controlled rats in the open field and light–dark chamber tests,” Zh. Vyssh. Nerv. Deyat., 61, No. 3, 340–350 (2011).
M. I. Zaichenko and G. Kh. Merzhanova, “Effects of blockade of D1/D2 dopamine receptors on the behavior of rats with different levels of impulsivity and self-control,” Zh. Vyssh. Nerv. Deyat., 61, No. 5, 1–10 (2011).
M. I. Zaichenko, G. Kh. Merzhanova, and A. V. Demina, “Studies of the behavior of impulsive’ and ‘self-controlled’ animals using the ‘emotional resonance’ test,” Zh. Vyssh. Nerv. Deyat., 60, No. 2, 192–200 (2010).
A. V. Kaluev, Stress, Anxiety, and Behavior (current problems in modeling anxious behavior in animals), CSK, Kiev (1998).
J. W. Dalley, A. C. Mar, D. Economidou, and T. W. Robbins, “Neurobehavioral mechanisms of impulsivity: frontostriatal systems and functional neurochemistry,” Pharmacol. Biochem. Behav., 90, 250–260 (2008).
C. T. Dourish, S. S. Grewal, J. K. Shepherd, et al., “Benefits of ethological analysis of behaviour,” Trends Pharmacol. Sci., 16, No. 8, 260–261 (1995).
J. L. Evenden, “Varieties of impulsivity,” Psychopharmacology (Berlin), 146, No. 4, 348–361 (1999).
C. Fernandez and S. E. File, “The influence of open arm ledges and maze experience in the elevated plus-maze,” Pharmacol. Biochem. Behav., 54, No. 1, 31–40 (1996).
S. E. File, “The interplay of learning and anxiety in the elevated plus-maze,” Behav. Brain Res., 58, 199–202 (1993).
J. A. Gray, “A critique of Eysenck’s theory of personality,” in: A Model for personality, J. J. Eysenck (ed.), Berlin (1981), pp. 246–277.
J. Gray and N. McNaughton, “The neurophysiology of anxiety: reprise,” Nebr. Symp. Motiv., 43, 61–134 (1996).
G. Griebel, C. Belzung, R. Misslin, and E. Vogel, “The free-exploratory paradigm: an effective method for measuring neophobic behavior in mice and testing potential neophobia-reducing drugs,” Behav. Pharmacol., 4, 637–644 (1993).
S. L. Huskinson and K. G. Anderson, “Effects of acute and chronic administration of diazepam on delay discounting in Lewis and Fischer 344 rats,” Behav. Pharmacol., 23, No. 4, 315–330 (2012).
E. Hollander and J. Rosen, “Impulsivity,” J. Psychopharmacol., 14, Supplement 1, 39–44 (2000).
J. R. Homberg, B. Arends, G. Wardeh, et al., “Individual differences in the effects of serotonergic anxiolytic drugs on the motivation to self-administer cocaine,” Neuroscience, 128, No. 1, 121–130 (2004).
I. A. Kerman, S. M. Clinton, T. A. Bedrosian, et al., “High novelty-seeking predicts aggression and gene expression differences within defined serotonergic cell groups,” Brain Res., 1419, 34–45 (2011).
C. Lever, S. Burton, and J. O’Keefe, “Rearing on hind legs, environmental novelty, and the hippocampal formation,” Rev. Neurosci., 17, No. 1–2, 111–113 (2006).
F. G. Moeller, E. S. Barratt, D. M. Dougherty, et al., “Psychiatric aspects of impulsivity,” Am. J. Psychiatry, 158, No. 11, 1783–1793 (2001).
A. C. Molander, A. March, A. Norbury, et al., “High impulsivity predicting vulnerability to cocaine addiction in rats: some relationship with novelty preference but not novelty reactivity, anxiety or stress,” Psychopharmacology (Berlin), 215, No. 4, 721–731 (2011).
R. Nadal, D. Rotllant, C. Márquez, and A. Armario, “Perseverance of exploration in novel environments predicts morphine place conditioning in rats,” Behav. Brain Res., 165, No. 1, 72–79 (2005).
T. Pattij and L. J. Vanderschuren, “The neuropharmacology of impulsive behaviour,” Trends Pharmacol. Sci., 29, 192–199 (2008).
P. V. Piazzas, S. Maccari, J. M. Deminiere, et al., “Corticosterone levels determine individual vulnerability to amphetamine self-administration,” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 88, 2088–2092 (1991).
R. J. Rodgers and J. C. Cole, “The elevated plus-maze: pharmacology, methodology and ethology,” in: Ethology and Pharmacology, S. J. Cooper and C. A. Hendrie (eds.) John Willey and Sons, Chichester (1994), pp. 9–44.
R. J. Rodgers, J. C. Cole, K. Aboualfa, and L. H. Stephenson, “Ethopharmacological analysis of the effects of putative ‘anxiogenic’ agents in the mouse elevated plus maze,” Pharmacol. Biochem. Behav., 52, No. 3, 1–9 (1995).
R. J. Rodgers and J. K. Sheperd, “Influence of prior maze experience on behavior and response to diazepam in the elevated plus maze and light–dark tests of anxiety in mice,” Psychopharmacology, 113, 237–242 (1993).
N. L. Schramm-Sapyta, M. C. Cauley, D. K. Stangl, et al., “Role of individual and developmental differences in voluntary cocaine intake in rats,” Psychopharmacology (Berlin), 215, No. 3, 493–504 (2011).
K. Ueno, H. Tagashi, and M. Yoshioka, “Behavioral and pharmacological studies of juvenile stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats as an animal model of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder,” Nihon Shinkei Sqaishin Yakurigaku Zasshi, 23, No. 1, 47–55 (2003).
C. A. Winstanley, J. W. Dalley, D. E. Theobald, and T. W. Robbins, “Fractionating impulsivity: contrasting effects of central 5-HT depletion on different measures of impulsive behavior,” Neuropsychopharmacology, 29, No. 7, 1331–1343 (2004).
C. A. Winstanley, D. M. Eagle, and T. W. Robbins, “Behavioral models of impulsivity in relation to ADHD: translation between clinical and preclinical studies,” Clin. Psychol. Rev., 26, 379–395 (2006).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Translated from Zhurnal Vysshei Nervnoi Deyatel’nosti imeni I. P. Pavlova, Vol. 63, No. 6, pp. 719–729, November–December, 2013.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Levandovskaya, A.A., Zaichenko, M.I., Merzhanova, G.K. et al. Assessment of Exploratory Activity and Anxiety in Rats with Different Levels of Impulsive Behavior. Neurosci Behav Physi 45, 179–187 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-015-0056-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-015-0056-1