RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Pro-Social Behavior In Rats Requires An Affective Motivation
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 044180
DO 10.1101/044180
A1 I. Ben-Ami Bartal
A1 H. Z. Shan
A1 N. M. R. Molasky
A1 T. M. Murray
A1 J. Z. Williams
A1 J. Decety
A1 Peggy Mason
YR 2016
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2016/03/17/044180.abstract
AB The motivations behind rodent helping behavior are unclear. We hypothesize that helping behavior is motivated by an affective state. To test this, we used a paradigm in which one rat can help another by releasing him from a restrainer. Rats were left untreated or received an injection of saline, midazolam (anxiolytic), or nadolol (peripherally acting sympatholytic). Midazolam but not nadolol or saline blocked helping. However, midazolam-treated rats opened the restrainer to access chocolate, showing that midazolam blocks helping through an effect on affect rather than through sedation or the like. To determine the role of HPA reactivity, we measured the corticosterone response to a trapped rat. Rats with the highest corticosterone responses evoked by a trapped rat did not develop consistent helping behavior. Together, these results demonstrate that rodent helping behavior is motivated by an affective state of anxiety and antagonized by physiological stress.