Search results for "T-pattern"
showing 7 items of 47 documents
Real-time Patterns of Behavior Following Nociceptive Stimulation in Rats
2016
The hot-plate test is employed, in rodents, to assess the analgesic properties of drugs. The surface where the animal is placed is normally maintained at a constant temperature around 50°C or 55°C. For this reason rat’s behavior, once placed on the heated surface, can be observed only for few seconds, and a necessary interruption occurs following an a priori-established cut-off to avoid tissue injuries. Such a narrow time window dampened the assessment of fine behavioral characteristics such as the temporal structure of behavior. In the present paper we demonstrate the possibility to apply a refined multivariate approach, known as T-pattern analysis (TPA), to describe the temporal character…
Temporal Patterns of Rodent Behavior in the Elevated Plus Maze Test
2012
The aim of the present study was to evaluate, by means of a temporal pattern analysis, rat’s behavior in the elevated plus maze test. A specific software called THEME has been used. On the basis of an ethogram encompassing 24 behavioral elements, results demonstrated that 14 components represented the 98% of the displayed activities. 145 different temporal patterns have been detected; length distribution of such patterns showed that three-, four-, and five-elements patterns were more represented than two-elements ones. Finally, a complex temporal pattern encompassing 8 behavioral elements has been discussed. Present article demonstrated the presence of complex temporal patterns characterizi…
Prior test experience produces changes of t-patterns spatial distribution in the elevated plus maze test
2014
Aim of present research was to investigate in male Wistar rats whether a prior elevated plus maze experience modifies the temporal structure of the behavioral response following a retest applied after 24h. Video files were coded by means of a software coder and event log files generated for each subject were analyzed by means of a specific software for temporal pattern analysis (Theme). Present research shows a clear reduction of the number of t-patterns from trial one to trial two. This reduction is provoked by the disappearance of t-patterns consisting of behavioral elements occurring in the unprotected zones of the maze. The results suggest that the previous experience in the maze causes…
Possible Contribution of T-pattern Detection and Analysis to the Study of the Behavioral Correlates of Afferent Inhibition.
2020
A pivotal tenet in modern behavioral sciences is that the study of behavior, in its most intimate structure, necessarily deals with time and, for this reason, behavioral dynamics are not intuitively perceivable and/or detectable (Eibl-Eibesfeldt, 1970). In reality, the possibility to describe a given behavior in terms of its structural/temporal features makes available new and detailed information otherwise unavailable. The aim of the present paper is to discuss the possible application of T-pattern detection and analysis, i.e., a multivariate approach specifically developed to describe the temporal structure of behavior, to the study of an important and still scantly investigated issue, na…
Effects of Different Anxiety Levels on the Behavioral Patternings Investigated through T-pattern Analysis in Wistar Rats Tested in the Hole-Board App…
2021
The Hole-Board is an ethologically based tool for investigating the anxiety-related behavior of rats following manipulation of the central anxiety level. The present paper aims to assess behavioral patterning following pharmacological manipulation of emotional assets in Wistar rats tested in this experimental apparatus. For this purpose, the behavior of three groups of rats injected with saline, diazepam or FG7142 was evaluated using conventional quantitative and multivariate Tpattern analyses. The results demonstrate that quantitative analyses of individual components of the behavior, disjointed from the comprehensive behavioral structure, are of narrow utility in the understanding of the …
Acute Nicotine Induces Anxiety and Disrupts Temporal Pattern Organization of Rat Exploratory Behavior in Hole-Board: A Potential Role for the Lateral…
2015
Nicotine is one of the most addictive drugs of abuse. Tobacco smoking is a major cause of many health problems, and is the first preventable cause of death worldwide. Several findings show that nicotine exerts significant aversive as well as the well-known rewarding motivational effects. Less certain is the anatomical substrate that mediates or enables nicotine aversion. Here, we show that acute nicotine induces anxiogenic-like effects in rats at the doses investigated (0.1, 0.5, and 1.0 mg/kg, i.p.), as measured by the hole-board apparatus and manifested in behaviors such as decreased rearing and head-dipping and increased grooming. No changes in locomotor behavior were observed at any of …
Combining Quantitative and Qualitative Data in the Study of Feeding Behavior in Male Wistar Rats
2019
The first step in a behavioral study is represented by the organization of a suitable ethogram, that is, a formal description of individual components of the behavior. Then, each component of such a behavioral repertoire can be quantified (e.g., how many times it occurs, its duration, percent distribution, latency, etc.). However, it is our contention that the possibility to describe the behavior of a living being by means of hundreds or even thousands of numbers concerning isolated components, disjointed from the comprehensive behavioral architecture, does not imply the possibility to use those numbers to reconstruct the meaning of behavior. Such a level of comprehension requires a qualita…