MAUDSLEY REACTIVE AND NONREACTIVE RATS DIFFER ONLY IN SOME TASKS REFLECTING EMOTIONALITY

The behavior of Maudsley reactive and nonreactive rats, along with that of Wistar controls. was studied using three behavioral tasks which have been associated with emotionality. Consistent with the hypothesis that they are more emotional, the Maudsley reactive rats were more immobile in the forced swim test and spent less time in the open arms of an elevated plus maze than the Maudsley nonreactive or Wistar control rats. However, they learned a two-way active avoidance task just as well as the other two groups. These findings suggest that emotionality is heterogeneous and/or that it is involved to different degrees in the three behavioral tasks.