Ontogeny of behavioral arousal: A comparative study.

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Abstract
Conducted 2 experiments with a total of 110 male Hartley albino neonatal guinea pigs, and 72 male golden neonatal hamsters to study changes in general activity as a function of age. The precocial guinea pig, which has a relatively mature brain at birth, showed little variation in behavioral arousal from 5-100 days of age. However, the altricial hamster displayed a sizable increase in activity between 10-15 days of age followed by a corresponding decline between 15-25 days of age. This pattern of behavioral activity in the hamster parallels the caudal-rostal sequence of brain development, in which the phylogenetically primitive brainstem excitory system reaches maturity before telencephalic inhibitory centers. Direct observation revealed no qualitative changes in response that could account for the differences in behavioral arousal between the 2 species. (24 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)

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