Attraction to odors in hamsters: An evaluation of methods.

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Abstract
Six different attraction tasks (1 stimulus presented at a time) and 5 preference tasks were compared. In 5 of the 6 attraction tasks, 1 stimulus (vaginal secretion) was sniffed by males longer than any other stimulus, but the degree of difference between this stimulus and the others, and the relative attractiveness or aversiveness of the other stimuli, varied greatly across methods. One method was not useful for demonstrating differences in attraction to positive and neutral odors but was useful for demonstrating aversions. In the preference tasks females demonstrated a significant preference for the odors of intact males over those of castrated males in 4 of the 5 methods, and again the strength of the preferences differed across methods. Preference tasks may be more sensitive and less subject to variability due to details of the method employed than are attraction tasks. Procedures in which the test animal''s own home cage was used as the testing environment tended to emphasize effects due to novelty rather than the inherent attractiveness of the odorants. The use of novel objects as sources for test odors and the use of airstreams for delivery of odors reduced the salience of the test odorants.

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