Social Conditioned Place Preference in the Captive Ground Squirrel (Ictidomys tridecemlineatus): Social Reward as a Natural Phenotype

Social behaviors of wild animals are often considered within an ultimate framework of adaptive benefits versus survival risks. By contrast, studies of laboratory animals more typically focus on affective aspects of behavioral decisions, whether a rodent derives a rewarding experience from social enc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of comparative psychology (1983) 2015-08, Vol.129 (3), p.291-303
Main Authors: Lahvis, Garet P., Panksepp, Jules B., Kennedy, Bruce C., Wilson, Clarinda R., Merriman, Dana K.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal
Animal behavior
Animal cognition
Animal Social Behavior
Classical Conditioning
Comparative studies
Female
Genotype & phenotype
Laboratory animals
Male
Phenotypes
Preferences
Rewards
Rodents
Squirrels
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Summary:Social behaviors of wild animals are often considered within an ultimate framework of adaptive benefits versus survival risks. By contrast, studies of laboratory animals more typically focus on affective aspects of behavioral decisions, whether a rodent derives a rewarding experience from social encounter, and how this experience might be initiated and maintained by neural circuits. Artificial selection and inbreeding have rendered laboratory animals more affiliative and less aggressive than their wild conspecifics, leaving open the possibility that social reward is an artifact of domestication. We compared social behaviors of wild and captive population of juvenile 13-lined ground squirrels (Ictidomys tridecemlineatus), the latter being 2nd- and 3rd-generation descendants of wild individuals. At an age corresponding to emergence from the burrow, postnatal day (PD) 38, captive squirrels engaged in vigorous social approach and play and these juvenile behaviors declined significantly by PD 56. Similarly, young wild squirrels expressed social proximity and play; affiliative interactions declined with summer's progression and were replaced by agonistic chasing behaviors. Social conditioned place preference testing (conditioned PDs 40-50) indicated that adolescent squirrels derived a rewarding experience from social reunion. Our results support the contention that undomesticated rodents have the capacity for social reward and more generally suggest the possibility that positive affective experiences may support group cohesion, social cooperation, and altruism in the wild.
ISSN:0735-7036
1939-2087
DOI:10.1037/a0039435