Habituation, Its Retention, and Dishabituation of Multiple Behaviors in Chinchillas.

Abstract

Habituation and dishabituation were studied in ten adult chinchillas. Head-shake responses (HSRs), basal respiration, and struggle activity during restraint all displayed substantial within-session decrement which was retained significantly after 24 hr. The HSR exhibited short-term sensitization as well as long-term habituation. The latter occurred in spite of the fact that no overhabituation was allowed. An extraneous noise-impact stimulus produced dishabituation of basal respiration and struggle activity but not HSRs, suggesting differential sensitivity to concurrent stimulation between response systems. It was concluded that long-term habituation of the chinchilla's HSR is not dependent upon overhabituation effects. The combined results indicate that habituation occurred independently in the different response systems and, thus, support a multiprocess interpretation of habituation. (Modified author abstract)

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 26, 1974
Accession Number
AD0779154

Entities

People

  • Bruce C. Leibrecht
  • William S. Kemmerer

Organizations

  • United States Army Medical Research Laboratory

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Abstracts
  • Respiration
  • Sensitivity

Fields of Study

  • Biology
  • Psychology

Readers

  • Acoustics.
  • Computational Modeling and Simulation
  • Exercise and Sports Science.