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Impacts of Stress During Puberty on Tracking Behavior in Hamsters
by Yahaira Scarlett Leon
Faculty Advisor: Yvon Delville, PhD
In classical conditioning paradigms, sign-tracking (ST) behavior is classified by incentive salience attributed to a reward-associated cue instead of the reward itself. Goal-tracking (GT) behavior on the other hand, is when incentive salience is attributed to the reward instead of the reward-associated cue. The study investigated any possible effect of chronic stress during puberty on tracking behavior during adulthood. Experimental male golden hamsters (n=10) were exposed to social stress during early puberty by placing them in cages of adult male hamsters once a day from Postnatal Day 28 to Postnatal Day 42, while those in the control group (n=10) were placed in new clean empty cages during the process of subjugation. During adulthood, hamsters were placed in chambers where they learned to associate the onset of two LED light cues to the release of a food reward at the food cup on the other side of the chamber. Contrary to what was hypothesized, stress during early puberty did not impact tracking behavior in adulthood, however it did seem to negatively impact learning behavior.