Chronic neonatal stress and frustration

RUETTI, JUSTEL, GONZÁLEZ JATUFF, TORRECILLA & MUSTACA

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Congreso; 14th Biennial Meeting International Society for Comparative Psychology Argentinean Scientific Society; 2008

International Society for Comparative Psychology

Mild neonatal stress is an effective physical and neurochemical stimulus during development. It reduces behavioral and hormonal responsiveness to an aversive stimulus. In the present study adult male rats subjected to neonatal chronic mild stress were exposed to two experimental situations related to frustrative nonreward: consummatory successive negative contrast (cSNC) and consummatory extinction (cE). Stressed rats that had access to a 32% sucrose solution and were then downshifted to a 4% solution exhibited a faster recovery from cSNC (Experiment 1), and a faster cE when downshifted to an empty tube, relative to nonstressed control rats (Experiment 2). These findings suggest that rats chronically exposed to neonatal mild stress quickly adjust their behavior in stressful situations involving the surprising omission of an expected reward. These results are discussed in relation to Amsel´s frustration theory.