Sex differences in risk-taking and associative learning in rats

Jolles, Jolle; Boogert, Neeltje J.; van den Bos, Ruud

Sex differences in risk-taking and associative learning in rats

Dateien

Jolles_2-1vh2cnxsc1ys79.pdfGröße: 516.84 KBDownloads: 277

Datum

2015

Autor:innen

Jolles, Jolle

Boogert, Neeltje J.

van den Bos, Ruud

Open Access-Veröffentlichung

Open Access Gold

Sammlungen

Biologie

Publikationstyp

Zeitschriftenartikel

Publikationsstatus

Published

Erschienen in

Royal Society Open Science. 2015, 2(11), 150485. eISSN 2054-5703. Available under: doi: 10.1098/rsos.150485

Zusammenfassung

In many species, males tend to have lower parental investment than females and greater variance in their reproductive success. Males might therefore be expected to adopt more high-risk, high-return behaviours than females. Next to risk-taking behaviour itself, sexes might also differ in how they respond to information and learn new associations owing to the fundamental link of these cognitive processes with the risk-reward axis. Here we investigated sex differences in both risk-taking and learned responses to risk by measuring male and female rats' (Rattus norvegicus) behaviour across three contexts in an open field test containing cover. We found that when the environment was novel, males spent more time out of cover than females. Males also hid less when exposed to the test arena containing predator odour. By contrast, females explored more than males when the predator odour was removed (associatively learned risk). These results suggest that males are more risk-prone but behave more in line with previous experiences, while females are more risk-averse and more responsive to changes in their current environment. Our results suggest that male and female rats differ in how they cope with risk and highlight that a general link may exist between risk-taking behaviour and learning style.

Fachgebiet (DDC)

570 Biowissenschaften, Biologie

Schlagwörter

learning, conditioning, risk-taking, rats, sex differences, exploratory behaviour

Zitieren

ISO 690

JOLLES, Jolle, Neeltje J. BOOGERT, Ruud VAN DEN BOS, 2015. Sex differences in risk-taking and associative learning in rats. In: Royal Society Open Science. 2015, 2(11), 150485. eISSN 2054-5703. Available under: doi: 10.1098/rsos.150485

BibTex

@article{Jolles2015-11diffe-46399,
  year={2015},
  doi={10.1098/rsos.150485},
  title={Sex differences in risk-taking and associative learning in rats},
  number={11},
  volume={2},
  journal={Royal Society Open Science},
  author={Jolles, Jolle and Boogert, Neeltje J. and van den Bos, Ruud},
  note={Article Number: 150485}
}

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Universitätsbibliographie

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Begutachtet

Ja