Sources of stress in captivity – Morgan & Tromborg, 2006 Abstract: Animals housed in artificial habitats are confronted by a wide range of potentially provocative environmental challenges. In this article, we review many of the potential stressors that may adversely affect animals living in captivity. These include abiotic, environmental sources of stress such as artificialContinue reading “Literature Review on Stress in Captivity Pt.1”
Category Archives: cognition & neuroscience
Stress Affects Lactation in Rats
Animal models for the study of the effect of prolonged stress on lactation in rats – Lau & Simpson, 2004 Abstract: Stress has been well documented to suppress lactation, but this study aims to identify the effects of prolonged stress. One model controlled the contact with pups and the other introduced a male intruder, bothContinue reading “Stress Affects Lactation in Rats”
Stress Streamlines Physiological Processes (lizard)
Chronic stress, energy transduction, and free-radical production in a reptile – Voituron et al. 2017 Abstract: corticosterone plays a crucial role in adapting to stressful environments. 3 main processes of respiration, ATP production and free radical production in the mitochondria may also affect stress responses, so this study tried to dissect these sub-cellular mechanisms. TheContinue reading “Stress Streamlines Physiological Processes (lizard)”
Literature Review on the Complexities of Environmental Enrichment
Environmental Enrichment of Laboratory Rodents: The Answer Depends on the Question – Toth et al. 2011 Abstract: Environmental enrichment may increase welfare of subjects but it does move away from standardization since enrichment can be perceived as numerous things. Does not help that the same type of environmental enrichment (EE) can have different effects onContinue reading “Literature Review on the Complexities of Environmental Enrichment”
Subject-Specific Enrichment > Anthropomorphic Enrichment
Does environmental enrichment really matter? A case study using the eastern fence lizard, Sceloporus undulatus- Rosier & Langkilde, 2011 Abstract: Little is known about reptilian environmental enrichment, thus was investigated by using Eastern Fence Lizards that spend most of their time in trees or high ledges. They implemented solely climbing enrichment and found there toContinue reading “Subject-Specific Enrichment > Anthropomorphic Enrichment”
Morris Water Maze-taking it back to basics
Developments of a water-maze procedure for studying spatial learning in the rat- Morris, 1984 Abstract: Outlines procedures for 1. automatically tracking the spatial location of a rat without using attached light-emitting diodes, 2. studying different aspects of spatial memory (ex. working memory), 3. studying non-spatial discrimination learning. Introduction: The essential feature of the Morris waterContinue reading “Morris Water Maze-taking it back to basics”
Low Nicotine-induced Conditioned Place Preference only in Teens
Nicotine-induced conditioned place preference in adolescent and adult rats- Vastola et al. 2002 Abstract: Checked the rewarding properties of nicotine on adult and adolescent rats, found that even a low dose created a conditioned place preference in adolescents while not in adults. This increased sensitivity to the effects of nicotine during adolescence may contribute toContinue reading “Low Nicotine-induced Conditioned Place Preference only in Teens”
Dogs Enjoy Music, especially college soft rock
The effect of different genres of music on the stress levels of kenneled dogs- Bowman et al. 2017 Abstract: dogs were played 5 types of songs for 5 days of enrichment, found there to be no significant difference in barking, but significantly more barking after auditory enrichment has ended, and significantly more heart rate variabilityContinue reading “Dogs Enjoy Music, especially college soft rock”
Vivariums over Racks – Snake Welfare
Animal- appropriate housing of ball pythons (Python regius) – behaviour-based evaluation of two types of housing systems – Hollandt et al. 2021 Abstract: Was looking at the effects of enrichment on snake welfare by testing ball pythons (n=35) in rack systems for an 8 week duration then flipping them to an enriched environment consisting substrate,Continue reading “Vivariums over Racks – Snake Welfare”
Cognitive Testing Paradigms and Apparatuses for Mammals
Behavioural Methods to Study Learning and Memory in Rats – Quillfeldt, 2006 Phenomenological observations are observations that are based on phenomenon the subject displays and are then used to make conclusions about intrinsic mechanisms. Also called an indirect form of observation. Taxonomy of Memory Types: can be classified into many types: Function: working vs referenceContinue reading “Cognitive Testing Paradigms and Apparatuses for Mammals”
Al3xandria 