Motivational Systems of Agonistic Behavior in Muroid Rodents
Introduction Page 1


TITLE PAGE & ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION Pages 1 - 2

OFFENSE
Pages 3 - 4

...motor patterns
Pages 5 - 6

...releasing, directing stimuli
Page 7

...motivating stimuli
Pages 8 - 9

DEFENSE
Page 10

...motor patterns
Pages 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15

...releasing, directing stimuli
Page 16

...motivating stimuli
Pages 17 - 18

SUBMISSION
Page 19

...motor patterns
Page 20

...stimuli
Page 21

PATROL/ MARKING
Page 22

...motor patterns
Pages 23 - 24

...releasing, directing stimuli
Page 25

...motivating stimuli
Pages 26 - 27

INTERACTIONS Page 28

DISCUSSION
Pages 29 - 30 - 31 - 32

FIGURES 1-2
Pages 33 - 34

TABLE I
Pages 35 - 36 - 37

REFERENCES
Pages 38 - 39 - 40 - 41 - 42 - 43


This paper is part of a series in which it is proposed that the agonistic behavior of muroid rodents is organized by four motivational systems with four different neural circuits: Offense, defense, submission, and patrol/marking. The behaviors of offense and defense reflect two types of "aggressive" behavior, in the traditional sense. The behaviors of submission and patrol/marking are "agonistic" in the broad sense proposed by Scott [1966], ie, behavior patterns of adaptive value in situations involving intra specific physical conflict. In other papers in the series, I have presented evidence on the neural substrate of offense, defense, and submission [Adams, 1979a], and the effects of learning and imprinting [Adams, 1979b], and the effects of hormones [Adams, in press] upon that neural substrate. The behaviors of patrol/marking were previously described under the title "exploration/ marking" [Lehman and Adams, 1977]. In the present paper, the ethological and behavioral literature concerning the behaviors of the four motivational systems is reviewed and related to their proposed neural organization.

Although this paper is devoted to ethological and behavioral data, it assumes that ultimately the data should be related to the neural substrate of the behavior and that behavioral distinctions as much as possible should reflect that substrate. Therefore, both the organization of the paper and the terminology employed in it are derived from the previously published analysis of neural mechanisms [Adams, 1979a]. However, since the neural analysis is still hypothetical in many respects, the material will be presented in such a way that it can be considered in its own right independent of the assumed neural organization.

The organization of the paper, reflecting the proposed neural substrate, consists of four sections corresponding to the four hypothetical motivational system and, within each section, four subsections corresponding to the four components of motivational systems. The subsections are concerned with the unity of the motivational system (reflecting the motivational mechanism), its motor patterns (reflecting the motor patterning mechanisms), its releasing and directing stimuli (reflecting sensory analyzers tuned to these stimuli), and its motivating stimuli (reflecting sensory analyzers for motivating stimuli).

(continued on next page)

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