Do Intruders Behave Differently When Encountering an Experienced Winner vs a Naive Fighter?
Abstract
Competing is an inherently risky endeavor, but it is a ubiquitous behavior throughout the animal kingdom and beyond. Aside from the factors that motivate competition (e.g. territory and other resources) there are many behavioral and physiological effects of winning and losing. Some of these effects are easily observed, while others require careful histological analyses. Still others are more obvious to the competitors than to any external observers. The Winner Effect is a common phenomenon that posits that experiencing victory increases the odds of winning future competitions. By testing experienced winners (females with three previous victories) and naïve residents with naïve male intruders, we recently demonstrated that winning increased aggression in postpartum female rats. This is a common feature of the Winner Effect, but this was the first demonstration of its kind in nonhuman females. We are currently analyzing intruder behaviors in the video recordings of those tests. Intruders are able to perceive characteristics of the residents that we could not or did not measure – for example, olfactory and vocal communication of dominance—and if they behave more submissively in the presence of winners than of naïve postpartum females, this will provide confirmatory evidence that winning affected the postpartum females in perceptible ways that increase her ability to win future conflicts (perhaps even without fighting). Moreover, male intruders (losers) experience social stress during this test that could have lasting effects. In a linked experiment, we tested whether losing impacted behavioral and neurological TBI outcomes.
Faculty Sponsors
Dr. Mary Holschbach
Project Type
Event
Location
Alvin Sherman Library
Start Date
4-5-2023 12:00 PM
End Date
4-6-2023 4:00 PM
Do Intruders Behave Differently When Encountering an Experienced Winner vs a Naive Fighter?
Alvin Sherman Library
Competing is an inherently risky endeavor, but it is a ubiquitous behavior throughout the animal kingdom and beyond. Aside from the factors that motivate competition (e.g. territory and other resources) there are many behavioral and physiological effects of winning and losing. Some of these effects are easily observed, while others require careful histological analyses. Still others are more obvious to the competitors than to any external observers. The Winner Effect is a common phenomenon that posits that experiencing victory increases the odds of winning future competitions. By testing experienced winners (females with three previous victories) and naïve residents with naïve male intruders, we recently demonstrated that winning increased aggression in postpartum female rats. This is a common feature of the Winner Effect, but this was the first demonstration of its kind in nonhuman females. We are currently analyzing intruder behaviors in the video recordings of those tests. Intruders are able to perceive characteristics of the residents that we could not or did not measure – for example, olfactory and vocal communication of dominance—and if they behave more submissively in the presence of winners than of naïve postpartum females, this will provide confirmatory evidence that winning affected the postpartum females in perceptible ways that increase her ability to win future conflicts (perhaps even without fighting). Moreover, male intruders (losers) experience social stress during this test that could have lasting effects. In a linked experiment, we tested whether losing impacted behavioral and neurological TBI outcomes.
