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Behavioural Despair Test
The behavioural despair test (or Porsolt forced swimming test) is a test, centered on a rodent's response to the threat of drowning, whose result has been interpreted as measuring susceptibility to negative mood. It is commonly used to measure the effectiveness of antidepressants, although significant criticisms of its interpretation have been made. Method Animals are subjected to two trials during which they are forced to swim in an acrylic glass cylinder filled with water, and from which they cannot escape. The first trial lasts 15 minutes. Then, after 24-hours, a second trial is performed that lasts 5 minutes. The time that the test animal spends in the second trial without making any movements beyond those required to keep its head above water is measured. This immobility time is decreased by various types of antidepressants and also by electroconvulsive shock. Another common variant of this behavioural test specifically used for mice is conducted only for one trial and last ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anthropomorphism
Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics to abstract concepts such as nations, emotions, and natural forces, such as seasons and weather. Both have ancient roots as storytelling and artistic devices, and most cultures have traditional fables with anthropomorphized animals as characters. People have also routinely attributed human emotions and behavioral traits to wild as well as domesticated animals. Etymology Anthropomorphism and anthropomorphization derive from the verb form ''anthropomorphize'', itself derived from the Greek ''ánthrōpos'' (, "human") and ''morphē'' (, "form"). It is first attested in 1753, originally in reference to the heresy of applying a human form to the Christian God.''Oxford English Dictionary'', 1st ed. "anthropomorphism, ''n.''" Oxford University ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tail Suspension Test
The tail suspension test (TST) is an experimental method used in scientific research to measure stress in rodents. It is based on the observation that if a mouse is subjected to short term inescapable stress then the mouse will become immobile. It is used to measure the effectiveness of antidepressant-like agents but there is significant controversy over its interpretation and usefulness. History The TST was introduced in 1985 due to the popularity of a similar test called the forced swim test (FST). However this test only recently became popular in the 2000s where data has shown that animals do show a change in behavior when injected with antidepressants. TST is more reliable when done in conjunction with other depression models such as FST, learned helplessness, anhedonia models and olfactory bulbectomy. Modeling depression Depression is a complex multi-faceted disorder with symptoms that can have multiple causes such as psychological, behavioral, and genetics. Since ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Open Field (animal Test)
Developed by Calvin S. Hall, the open field test is an experimental test used to assay general locomotor activity levels, anxiety, and willingness to explore in animals (usually rodents) in scientific research. However, the extent to which behavior in the open field measures anxiety is controversial. The open field test can be used to assess memory by evaluating the ability of the animal to recognize a stimuli or object. Another animal test that is used to assess memory using that same concept is the novel object recognition test. Concept Animals such as rats and mice display a natural aversion to brightly lit open areas. However, they also have a drive to explore a perceived threatening stimulus. Decreased levels of anxiety lead to increased exploratory behavior. Increased anxiety will result in less locomotion and a preference to stay close to the walls of the field ( thigmotaxis). Experimental design The open field is an arena with walls to prevent escape. Commonly, the fiel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Learned Helplessness
Learned helplessness is the behavior exhibited by a subject after enduring repeated aversive stimuli beyond their control. It was initially thought to be caused by the subject's acceptance of their powerlessness, by way of their discontinuing attempts to escape or avoid the aversive stimulus, even when such alternatives are unambiguously presented. Upon exhibiting such behavior, the subject was said to have acquired learned helplessness. In humans, learned helplessness is related to the concept of self-efficacy; the individual's belief in their innate ability to achieve goals. Learned helplessness theory is the view that clinical depression and related mental illnesses may result from a real or perceived absence of control over the outcome of a situation. Foundation of research and theory Early experiments American psychologist Martin Seligman initiated research on learned helplessness in 1967 at the University of Pennsylvania as an extension of his interest in depression. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Animal Models Of Depression
Animal models of depression are research tools used to investigate depression and action of antidepressants as a simulation to investigate the symptomatology and pathophysiology of depressive illness or used to screen novel antidepressants. Introduction Depression Major depressive disorder, also called "clinical depression" or often simply "depression", is a common, long-lasting and diverse psychiatric syndrome that significantly affects a person's thoughts, behavior, feelings and sense of well-being. Symptoms include low mood and aversion to activity. Depressed people may also feel sad, anxious, empty, hopeless, worried, helpless, worthless, guilty, irritable, hurt, or restless. They may lose interest in activities that once were pleasurable, experience loss of appetite or overeating, have problems concentrating, remembering details, or making decisions, and may contemplate or attempt suicide. Insomnia, excessive sleeping, fatigue, loss of energy, or aches, pains, or dig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
PETA
Peta or PETA may refer to: Acronym * Pembela Tanah Air, a militia established by the occupying Japanese in Indonesia in 1943 * People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, an American animal rights organization * People Eating Tasty Animals, an organization mocking the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals' stance on vegetarianism * Philippine Educational Theater Association, a Philippine theatrical association * Pulse Ejector Thrust Augmentor, a type of jet engine People * Peta (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Tomasz Peta (born 1951), Roman Catholic Archbishop of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Saint Mary in Astana, Kazakhstan Places * Peta, Greece, a town * Peţa River, a river in Romania Other uses * peta-, a metric prefix denoting a factor of 1015 * Battle of Peta * Peta (cat), the unofficial Chief Mouser to the UK Cabinet Office 1964-78 * Mysore peta, a type of Indian royal attire * Pentaerythritol tetraac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Animal Rights Groups
This list of animal rights groups consists of groups in the animal rights movement. Such animal rights groups work towards their ideals, which include the viewpoint that animals should have equivalent rights to humans, such as not being "used" in research, food, clothing and entertainment industries, and seek to end the status of animals as property. (Cf. Animal welfare.) This list contains only groups, organizations and leaderless resistance networks that have articles within Wikipedia. Organizations General animal rights *American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) *Animal Aid (UK) *Animal Defenders International * Animal Defense League * Animal Ethics *Animal Legal Defense Fund * Animal Liberation Leagues * Animal Liberation Press Office * Animal Outlook (formerly Compassion Over Killing) *Animal Protection and Rescue League * Animal Welfare Network Nepal * AnimaNaturalis (Spain and Latin America) * Animals Now *Anonymous for the Voiceless *Best Fri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adaptation
In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the population during that process. Thirdly, it is a phenotypic trait or adaptive trait, with a functional role in each individual organism, that is maintained and has evolved through natural selection. Historically, adaptation has been described from the time of the ancient Greek philosophers such as Empedocles and Aristotle. In 18th and 19th century natural theology, adaptation was taken as evidence for the existence of a deity. Charles Darwin proposed instead that it was explained by natural selection. Adaptation is related to biological fitness, which governs the rate of evolution as measured by change in allele frequencies. Often, two or more species co-adapt and co-evolve as they develop adaptations that interlock with those of the o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antidepressants
Antidepressants are a class of medication used to treat major depressive disorder, anxiety disorders, chronic pain conditions, and to help manage addictions. Common side-effects of antidepressants include dry mouth, weight gain, dizziness, headaches, sexual dysfunction, and emotional blunting. There is a slight increased risk of suicidal thinking and behavior when taken by children, adolescents, and young adults. Discontinuation syndrome may occur after stopping any antidepressant which resembles recurrent depression. Some research regarding the effectiveness of antidepressants for depression in adults has found benefits, whilst other research has not. Evidence of benefit in children and adolescents is unclear. The twenty-one most commonly prescribed antidepressant medications are more effective than placebo for the short-term (acute) treatments of adults with major depressive disorder. There is debate in the medical community about how much of the observed effects of antidepr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Habituation
Habituation is a form of non-associative learning in which an innate (non-reinforced) response to a stimulus decreases after repeated or prolonged presentations of that stimulus. Responses that habituate include those that involve the intact organism (e.g., full-body startle response) or those that involve only components of the organism (e.g., habituation of neurotransmitter release from ''in vitro'' Aplysia sensory neurons). The broad ubiquity of habituation across all biologic phyla has resulted in it being called "the simplest, most universal form of learning...as fundamental a characteristic of life as DNA." Functionally-speaking, by diminishing the response to an inconsequential stimulus, habituation is thought to free-up cognitive resources to other stimuli that are associated with biologically important events (i.e., punishment/reward). For example, organisms may habituate to repeated sudden loud noises when they learn these have no consequences. A progressive decline of a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Learning
Learning is the process of acquiring new understanding, knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, attitudes, and preferences. The ability to learn is possessed by humans, animals, and some machines; there is also evidence for some kind of learning in certain plants. Some learning is immediate, induced by a single event (e.g. being burned by a hot stove), but much skill and knowledge accumulate from repeated experiences. The changes induced by learning often last a lifetime, and it is hard to distinguish learned material that seems to be "lost" from that which cannot be retrieved. Human learning starts at birth (it might even start before in terms of an embryo's need for both interaction with, and freedom within its environment within the womb.) and continues until death as a consequence of ongoing interactions between people and their environment. The nature and processes involved in learning are studied in many established fields (including educational psychology, neurop ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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