Introduction
Page 1
Experiment 1:
Intro/Method
Pages 2-3
Experiment 1:
Results
Page 4
Experiment 1:
Discussion
Page 5
Experiment 2:
Intro/Method
Page 6
Experiment 2:
Results
Page 7
Experiment 2:
Discussion
Page 8
Experiment 3:
Intro/Methods
Page 9
Experiment 3:
Results
Page 10
Experiment 3:
Discussion
Page 11
General Discussion
Page 12
Figures 1-2-3
Pages 13-14-15
Tables 1-2-3
Pages 16-17-18
The differential effects of food deprivation on competitive and territorial fighting suggest that either these types of fighting are controlled by two separate and discrete brain mechanisms, or else the effects of food deprivation take place at an early stage of the system, prior to that of the proposed offense motivational mechanism.
The effects of food deprivation may be exerted directly on mechanisms responsible for competitive and territorial fighting, or they may be indirect effects mediated by attention. Thus, for example, in the case of competitive fighting, deprivation may help to focus the animal's attention on the food hopper and the piece of food over which the two animals are competing. In the case of territorial fighting, on the other hand, it might serve as a distraction from the intruder. The overt behaviors that we observed during the study support the former but not the latter. In competitive fighting under high food deprivation the animals spent most of their time at the food hopper trying to eat the food pellet. However, in territorial fighting, we did not observe the resident rat spending time by the food hopper instead of investigating the intruder.
 |
 |
 |