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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Serotonin, Motivation, And Playfulness In The Juvenile Rat, Stephen M. Siviy, Loren M. Deron, Chelsea R. Kasten Oct 2011

Serotonin, Motivation, And Playfulness In The Juvenile Rat, Stephen M. Siviy, Loren M. Deron, Chelsea R. Kasten

Psychology Faculty Publications

The effects of the selective 5HT1A agonist 8-OH-DPAT were assessed on the play behavior of juvenile rats. When both rats of the test pair were comparably motivated to play, the only significant effect of 8-OH-DPAT was for play to be reduced at higher doses. When there was a baseline asymmetry in playful solicitation due to a differential motivation to play and only one rat of the pair was treated, low doses of 8-OH-DPAT resulted in a collapse of asymmetry in playful solicitations. It did not matter whether the rat that was treated initially accounted for more nape contacts or fewer …


In Search Of The Neurobiological Substrates For Social Playfulness In Mammalian Brains, Stephen M. Siviy, Jaak Panksepp Oct 2011

In Search Of The Neurobiological Substrates For Social Playfulness In Mammalian Brains, Stephen M. Siviy, Jaak Panksepp

Psychology Faculty Publications

Play behavior is a fundamental and intrinsic neurobehavioral process in the mammalian brain. Using rough-and-tumble play in the juvenile rat as a model system to study mammalian playfulness, some of the relevant neurobiological substrates for this behavior have been identified, and in this review this progress. A primary-process executive circuit for play in the rat that includes thalamic intralaminar nuclei, frontal cortex and striatum can be gleaned from these data. Other neural areas that may interact with this putative circuit include amygdala, ventral hypothalamus, periaqueductal gray (PAG), and deep tectum, as well as ascending dopamine systems which participate in all …


Sam Van Aken: New Edens, Shannon Egan Oct 2011

Sam Van Aken: New Edens, Shannon Egan

Schmucker Art Catalogs

Hybridized fruit trees, grafted orchids on shiny, reflective aluminum pedestals, fluorescent lights placed vertically on stands, and sheets of silver Mylar create a lush and somewhat disorienting space in contemporary artist Sam Van Aken’s most recent body of work New Edens. Van Aken makes Gettysburg College’s Schmucker Art Gallery into a kind of fantastical and futuristic winter garden. Without daylight and despite the cool fall weather of the Northeast, the dozen trees in the gallery are leafy and green, some even bearing fruit. Peach, plum, cherry, nectarine and apricot branches emerge from a single trunk and grow productively alongside their …


Exercise Intensity As A Determinant Of Exercise Induced Hypoalgesia, Karen Y. Wonders, Daniel G. Drury Aug 2011

Exercise Intensity As A Determinant Of Exercise Induced Hypoalgesia, Karen Y. Wonders, Daniel G. Drury

Health Sciences Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to examine pain perception during and following two separate 30-min bouts of exercise above and below the Lactate Threshold (LT). Pain Threshold (PT) and Pain Intensity (PI) were monitored during (15 and 30 min) and after exercise (15 and 30 min into recovery) using a Cold Pressor Test (CPT) and Visual Analog Scale (VAS) for pain of the non-dominant hand. Significant differences in PT scores were found both during and after exercise conditions. Post hoc analysis revealed significant differences in PT scores at 30 min of exercise (P=0.024, P=0.02) and 15 min of recovery …


Dysfunctional Play And Dopamine Physiology In The Fischer 344 Rat, Stephen M. Siviy, Cynthia A. Crawford, Garnik Akopian, John P. Walsh Jul 2011

Dysfunctional Play And Dopamine Physiology In The Fischer 344 Rat, Stephen M. Siviy, Cynthia A. Crawford, Garnik Akopian, John P. Walsh

Psychology Faculty Publications

Juvenile Fischer 344 rats are known to be less playful than other inbred strains, although the neurobiological substrate(s) responsible for this phenotype is uncertain. In the present study, Fischer 344 rats were compared to the commonly used outbred Sprague-Dawley strain on several behavioral and physiological parameters in order to ascertain whether the lack of play may be related to compromised activity of brain dopamine (DA) systems. As expected, Fischer 344 rats were far less playful than Sprague-Dawley rats, with Fischer 344 rats less likely to initiate playful contacts with a playful partner and less likely to respond playfully to these …