Sex Differences in Foraging Rats to Naturalistic Aerial Predator Stimuli

Summary: Rodents in the wild are under nearly constant threat of aerial predation and thus have evolved adaptive innate defensive behaviors, such as freezing or fleeing, in response to a perceived looming threat. Here we employed an ethologically relevant paradigm to study innate fear of aerial pred...

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Main Authors: Peter R. Zambetti, Bryan P. Schuessler, Jeansok J. Kim
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2019-06-01
Series:iScience
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004219301932
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spelling doaj-562c163e68fe4d77961605ec3a9a86612020-11-24T21:34:38ZengElsevieriScience2589-00422019-06-0116442452Sex Differences in Foraging Rats to Naturalistic Aerial Predator StimuliPeter R. Zambetti0Bryan P. Schuessler1Jeansok J. Kim2Department of Psychology, Guthrie Hall, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USADepartment of Psychology, Guthrie Hall, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USADepartment of Psychology, Guthrie Hall, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA; Program in Neuroscience, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA; Corresponding authorSummary: Rodents in the wild are under nearly constant threat of aerial predation and thus have evolved adaptive innate defensive behaviors, such as freezing or fleeing, in response to a perceived looming threat. Here we employed an ethologically relevant paradigm to study innate fear of aerial predators in male and female rats during a goal-oriented task. Rats foraging for food in a large arena encountered either a 2D or 3D looming stimulus, to which they instinctively fled back to a safe nest. When facing a direct aerial threat, female rats exhibited a greater fear response than males and this divergence maintained when exposed to the environment on subsequent days with no predator interaction, suggesting stronger contextual fear in female rats. These results may have relevance toward exploring neurobiological mechanisms associated with higher diagnosis rates of fear and anxiety-related disorders in women as compared with men. : Biological Sciences; Animals; Ethology Subject Areas: Biological Sciences, Animals, Ethologyhttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004219301932
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Peter R. Zambetti
Bryan P. Schuessler
Jeansok J. Kim
spellingShingle Peter R. Zambetti
Bryan P. Schuessler
Jeansok J. Kim
Sex Differences in Foraging Rats to Naturalistic Aerial Predator Stimuli
iScience
author_facet Peter R. Zambetti
Bryan P. Schuessler
Jeansok J. Kim
author_sort Peter R. Zambetti
title Sex Differences in Foraging Rats to Naturalistic Aerial Predator Stimuli
title_short Sex Differences in Foraging Rats to Naturalistic Aerial Predator Stimuli
title_full Sex Differences in Foraging Rats to Naturalistic Aerial Predator Stimuli
title_fullStr Sex Differences in Foraging Rats to Naturalistic Aerial Predator Stimuli
title_full_unstemmed Sex Differences in Foraging Rats to Naturalistic Aerial Predator Stimuli
title_sort sex differences in foraging rats to naturalistic aerial predator stimuli
publisher Elsevier
series iScience
issn 2589-0042
publishDate 2019-06-01
description Summary: Rodents in the wild are under nearly constant threat of aerial predation and thus have evolved adaptive innate defensive behaviors, such as freezing or fleeing, in response to a perceived looming threat. Here we employed an ethologically relevant paradigm to study innate fear of aerial predators in male and female rats during a goal-oriented task. Rats foraging for food in a large arena encountered either a 2D or 3D looming stimulus, to which they instinctively fled back to a safe nest. When facing a direct aerial threat, female rats exhibited a greater fear response than males and this divergence maintained when exposed to the environment on subsequent days with no predator interaction, suggesting stronger contextual fear in female rats. These results may have relevance toward exploring neurobiological mechanisms associated with higher diagnosis rates of fear and anxiety-related disorders in women as compared with men. : Biological Sciences; Animals; Ethology Subject Areas: Biological Sciences, Animals, Ethology
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004219301932
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