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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

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Psychology

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Psychology: Faculty Publications

Sex differences

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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Emergent Intra-Pair Sex Differences And Organized Behavior In Pair Bonded Prairie Voles (Microtus Ochrogaster), Liza E. Brusman, David S.W. Protter, Allison C. Fultz, Maya U. Paulson, Gabriel D. Chapel, Isaiah O. Elges, Ryan T. Cameron, Annaliese K. Beery, Zoe R. Donaldson Mar 2022

Emergent Intra-Pair Sex Differences And Organized Behavior In Pair Bonded Prairie Voles (Microtus Ochrogaster), Liza E. Brusman, David S.W. Protter, Allison C. Fultz, Maya U. Paulson, Gabriel D. Chapel, Isaiah O. Elges, Ryan T. Cameron, Annaliese K. Beery, Zoe R. Donaldson

Psychology: Faculty Publications

In pair bonding animals, coordinated behavior between partners is required for the pair to accomplish shared goals such as raising young. Despite this, experimental designs rarely assess the behavior of both partners within a bonded pair. Thus, we lack an understanding of the interdependent behavioral dynamics between partners that likely facilitate relationship success. To identify intra-pair behavioral correlates of pair bonding, we used socially monogamous prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster) and tested both partners using social choice and non-choice tests at short- and long-term pairing timepoints. Females developed a preference for their partner more rapidly than males, with preference driven by …


Sex Differences In The Reward Value Of Familiar Mates In Prairie Voles, Daniel M. Vahaba, Emily R. Halstead, Zoe R. Donaldson, Todd H. Ahern, Annaliese K. Beery Mar 2022

Sex Differences In The Reward Value Of Familiar Mates In Prairie Voles, Daniel M. Vahaba, Emily R. Halstead, Zoe R. Donaldson, Todd H. Ahern, Annaliese K. Beery

Psychology: Faculty Publications

The rewarding properties of social interactions facilitate relationship formation and maintenance. Prairie voles are one of the few laboratory species that form selective relationships, manifested as “partner preferences” for familiar partners versus strangers. While both sexes exhibit strong partner preferences, this similarity in outward behavior likely results from sex-specific neurobiological mechanisms. We recently demonstrated that in operant trials, females worked hardest for access to familiar conspecifics of either sex, while males worked equally hard for access to any female, indicating a sex difference in social motivation. As tests were performed with one social target at a time, males might have …