Influence of Pre-Weaning Social Isolation on Post-Weaning Emotion Tendency and Mother–Infant Interactions in Infant Octodon Degus

Tomoko Uekita, Akiko Ishibashi and Toshiro Sakamoto
Additional contact information
Tomoko Uekita: Department of Psychology, Kyoto Tachibana University, 34 Yamada-cho, Oyake Yamashina-ku, Kyoto 607-8175, Japan
Akiko Ishibashi: Department of Psychology, Kyoto Tachibana University, 34 Yamada-cho, Oyake Yamashina-ku, Kyoto 607-8175, Japan
Toshiro Sakamoto: Department of Psychology, Kyoto Tachibana University, 34 Yamada-cho, Oyake Yamashina-ku, Kyoto 607-8175, Japan

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 10, 1-12

Abstract: Our previous research using Octodon degus (degus) revealed that preweaning social isolation negatively affected object exploratory behavior. However, it remains unknown how social isolation affects animal psychology and other behaviors. The present study examined the effects of neonatal social isolation on degu emotion and mother–infant interactions before and after weaning. Because degus have a complex social repertoire, we predicted that they would be sensitive to social isolation and show similarities with humans in their social interaction. Pups in the isolation group were separated from their family seven times for 30 min a day from 8 to 15 days post-birth. Pups in the nonisolation group were reared with their family. At 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 weeks of age, pups underwent a zero-maze test to measure anxiety and a mother–infant interaction test to assess mother–infant attachment. Isolated pups showed more activity in the zero-maze test than nonisolated pups at 3 weeks of age. We found no significant effects of social isolation on mother–infant interactions. These results suggest that while neonatal social isolation might affect emotion during weaning, it does not influence mother–infant relationships.

Keywords: Octodon degus; social isolation; emotionality; infant–mother interaction (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/10/1824/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/10/1824/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:10:p:1824-:d:233540

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().