Social deprivation and play in rats

doi:10.1016/S0163-1047(80)91077-8

Behavioral and Neural Biology

Volume 30, Issue 2, October 1980, Pages 197-206

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0163-1047(80)91077-8 Get rights and content

Social interaction (play fighting) was studied in socially housed and individually housed juvenile rats (18–30 days of age). Pinning (an animal on its back, with the other on top) proved to be a simple measure of play which correlated highly with other measures of playful behavior (solicitive behaviors, following, rough-and-tumble play, and together-time measures). Play behaviors were markedly increased by social deprivation and reduced by social satiation. The results suggest that social play is a regulated process which can be easily quantified by the simple and objective measure of pinning behavior.

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¹: This research was supported by NIMH Research Scientist Development Award MH-00086 to J.P. and NIH Grant HD 12620 to W.W.B. We wish to acknowledge useful discussions of this work with Dr. John Jalowiec and the technical assistance of Rita Weiss and Tony Dodge.

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Social deprivation and play in rats1

Physiology & Behavior

Play Fighting

A preliminary study of the effect of play deprivation on young goats

Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie

Experimente zur Triebspezifität des Säugetierspiels

Naturwissenschraften