Social deprivation and stimulus satiation in the albino rat.

Abstract

Conducted 2 experiments, with a total of 288 male Sprague-Dawley albino rats, to explore the mechanisms whereby social deprivation leads to increased sociability in rats. Exp I housed Ss alone or in pairs with additional nonsocial stimulation, with additional response opportunities, or with no added social surrogates for 3 wks prior to testing for sociability. Social deprivation led to a strong increase in sociability, and this was not ameliorated by stimulus or response enrichment. Exp II exposed alone or pair-housed Ss to handling, human contact, or no stimulation and found that human exposure did serve a social surrogate function. This result suggests that sociability in rats represents to some degree a search for complex and unpredictable stimulation. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)