-
- Irrelevant
behaviour, information processing and arousal
homeostasis
- Juan D. Delius
-
- Yawning
: a displacement activity ?
- Le
bâillement: une activité
substitutive ?
-
- Self-injurious
and stereotypic behavior
-
- In 1940 Tinbergen and Kortlandt
independently drew attention te a behavioural
phenomenon which has since been called
displacement activity and has received a good
deal of attention. Although no binding rules
exist by which displacement behaviour can be
recognized, the term is applied to behaviour
patterns which appear to be out of context with
the behaviour which closely precedes or follows
them either in the sense that they do not seem
functionally integrated with the preceding or
following behaviour or that they occur in
situations in which causal factors usually
responsible for them appear to be absent or at
least weak compared with those determining the
behavioural envelope.
-
- Displacement activities occur in three
situations: motivational. conflict, frustration
of consummatory acts and physical thwarting of
performance. Several theories have been put
forwayd to explain the causal mechanism
involved. A variety of behaviour patterns have
been reported as displacement activities, even
in a single species, but this variety needs
revision.
-
- Monographie treatments of the behaviour of
any one species usually indicate only two or
three activities which according te the judgment
of the observer occur commonly as displacement.
None of the theories on displacement activities
gives cogent reasons why particular behaviour
patterns should be more common than others as
displacement activities, apart from stating that
the causal agents which usually elicit them in
non-displacement situations can also be presumed
te be present, if only weakly, in the
displacement context, or remarking that those
patterns are prepotent in the repertoire of the
animal.
-
- In the course of a systematic exploration of
the forebrain and brainstem of herring and
lesser black-backed gulls (Larus argentatus and
L. fuscus) with electrical stimulation,
information was obtained which may bear on this
particular issue. The gulls with chronically
implanted monopolar electrodes (conical active
ares, -0-25 mm2) were stimulated with a sine
current at 50 c/s ranging between 10 and 150
µamp root mean square current, in repeated
trains lasting 30 sec-5 min for several testing
sessions, over 2 or more months. The electrode
tip locations were checked histologically.
-
- A great variety of responses have been
obtained, but here we will only consider a
behavioural syndrome which is characterized by
preening and staring down, and more rarely by
pecking, yawning, squatting, relaxation
(fluffing of plumage, shortening of the neck,
general diminution of activity, intermittent
closure of eyes) and occasional sleep. We find
that several, and sometimes all, these component
patterns can often be elicited from single loci
with the same stimulation strength usually less
than 50 µamp, either as a result of a
single stimulation train or more frequently in
the course of several consecutive trains.
-
- In Table 1 all 202 loci so far explored have
been classified into those which gave preening
and those which did not. Within each class of
loci the percentage which yielded the different
other components is shown. All the component
patterns wore associated with electrodes
eliciting preening rather than with those which
did not, and the association is significant. A
similar relationship may also hold for
mandibulation, shaking the body and head,
wagging the tail and shaking the foot, but
because those patterns are also frequent during
control periods without stimulation, a decision
is difficult. No such association could be
dotected for some twentyfive other various
behaviour patterns examined.
It is significant that the preening positive
points clustered in several discrete anatomical
areas of the telencephalon and diencephalon and
that ten electrodes responsible for more than
half the entries in the non-preening class also
lay within or close to these areas. There is net
sufficient information to decide whether the
associations of components are stronger in some
areas than in others, although some evidence
points in this direction.
The conclusion that these diverse behaviour
patterns reflect the activation of a more or
less unitary system leading to dearousal, and
are not a result of the simultaneous stimulation
of contiguous but otherwise unrelated neural
systems, is supported by observations on
unstimulated normal gulls which suggest a high
temporal and sequential association between the
component patterns including sloop. Furthermore,
preliminary experiments indicate that at least
two hypnotic drugs, pentobarbital sodium and
tribromoethanol, given systemically, reliably
elicit the syndrome just described. Preening,
staring down and pecking the ground are also the
patterns most often involved in displacement
behaviour in gulls. A similar relationship seems
te hold in some other species.
In the cat Parmeggiani stimulated several
different and separate areas of the forebrain
and brainstem and obtained a behavioural complex
consisting of sniffing, grooming,
yawning, lying down, curling up, dozing and
sleeping. He emphasizes that this behaviour is
normal in unstimulated cats. Rowland and Gluck
presont some evidence that in a certain
conditioning procedure grooming replaced the
synchronization of the electroencephalogram
shown by sleeping cats when those were tested
awake. Again, Leyhausen lists grooming, sniffing
and lying down as displacement behaviour for the
cat.
For the rat, Caspers has shown that grooming
and some other unfortunately unspecified
"motorautomatisms" are associated with shifts in
the cortical d.c. potential making the surface
positive, which otherwise are typical of sloop,
while shifts towards a negative surface are
characteristic of the waking animal. Grant
mentions grooming, digging and sniffing as
typical displacement activities of rats.
Theee facts suggest that grooming or preening
and certain other movements are largely
controlled by neurophysiological mechanisms
which are also responsible, for de-arousal
and sleep. On the other hand they are often
involved in displacement bohaviour. There is
little doubt, however, that the behavioural
situations loading to displacement, that is,
conflict, frustration and thwarting, are
effective in increasing arousal. I suggest that
the occurrence of at least some displacement
activities is the reflexion of a homeostatic
process operating towards cancelling the arousal
increment so generated, through the activation
of an arousal inhibiting system. The existence
of arousal homeotasis has been suggested by
Borlyne, who also marshals supporting empirical
evidence. Such regulation appears logically
necessary if arousal is correlated with the rate
at which information is handled and if the
nervous systera is considered as a communication
channel of restricted and specific capacity
whore for maximum efficiency the information
handling rate must be hold within certain
limits.
The striking occurrence of slep as
displacement in several species may be regarded
in this context as a regulatory overshoot. Why
grooming and other patterns should be activated
by a neural de-arousal system is functionally
not obvious, but perhaps those types of
activities are conducive to de-arousal in a
similar way to other activities, possibly
through stimulus reduction (cut-off), switch of
attention to stimuli of little novelty or
generation of repetitive stimulation.
Displacement
Behavior
- Maestripieri, D., Schino, G., Aureli, F.
& Troisi, A. A modest proposal: displacement
activities as an indicator of emotions in
primates. Anim. Behav. 1992; 44; 967-979.
-
- Displacement behavior is usually thought of
as self-grooming, touching, or scratching, which
is displayed when an animal has a conflict
between two drives, such as the desire to
approach an object, while at the same time being
fearful of that object. With the fall of drive
theory into disfavor, animal behaviorists paid
little attention to displacement behavior until
Maestripieri et al. (1992) pointed out that
displacement behavior might be a good measure of
anxiety levels.
-
- Since then a sizeable literature evaluating
the effectiveness of displacement behavior
measures (also called self directed behavior, or
SDB) as indicators of anxiety has grown.
Particularly attention has been paid to
primates, including humans. Measures of
displacement behavior, for example, have been
applied in psychiatric studies of anxiety
(Troisi et al. 2000).
- Castles et al (1999) found that SDB's
increased in wild olive baboons between
depending on whether the nearest animal (to the
animal being watched) was dominant or not.
Dominant animals caused in increase in self
directed behaviors by 40 %, indicating a higher
level of social anxiety caused by the proximity
of a dominant animal.
-
- Chimpanzees also display higher levels of
SDB's in anxiety inducing situations. Baker and
Aureli (1997) found, in captive chimps, that
vocalizations from animals in neighboring cages
stimulated more SDB's when the chimps were
housed in groups. Socially isolated chimps,
however, did not respond with SDB's to
vocalizations coming from neighboring cages. The
vocalizations may suggest to the chimps that an
attack is imminent.
-
- Baker and Aureli (1997) suggest that the
isolated animals realize that no other chimps
are in their cage, and consequently they feel
safe even when hearing the vocalizations.
Leavens et al. (2001) gave captive chimps
problems of varying difficulty to solve. If
their chimps started with an easy problem and
then progressed to more difficult problems they
displayed more SDB's when confronted with the
difficult problems. Chimps who only received
difficult problems did not display more SDB's.
Positive auditory reinforcement during the
problem reduced SDB's.
-
- Research on animal welfare has used
displacement behavior as a measure of anxiety
induced by captivity or other manipulations. The
effectiveness of nterventions intended to
ameliorate the effects of captivity on animals
may be measured by reductions in self directed
behaviors.
-
- Baker K. C., Aureli F. 1997. Behavioural
indicators of anxiety: An empirical test in
chimpanzees. Behaviour 134: 1031-1050.
-
- Castles D. L., Whiten A., Aureli F. 1999.
Social anxiety, relationships and self-directed
behaviour among wild female olive baboons Animal
Behaviour 58: 1207-1215.
-
- Hughes B. O., Duncan I. J. H. 1988 The
notion of ethological need, models of motivation
and animal-welfare. Animal Behaviour 36:
1696-1707.
-
- Leavens DA, Aureli F, Hopkins WD, Hyatt CW
2001 Effects of cognitive challenge on
self-directed behaviors by chimpanzees (Pan
troglodytes) American Journal of Primatology 55
(1): 1-14
-
- Maestripieri D., Schino G., Aureli F.,
Troisi A. 1992. A modest proposal - displacement
activities as an indicator of emotions in
primates. Animal Behaviour 44: (5) 967-979
-
- Manson JH, Perry S 2000 Correlates of
self-directed behaviour in wild white faced
capuchins Ethology 106 (4): 301-317
-
- Troisi A., Belsanti S., Bucci A. R., Mosco
C., Sinti F., Verucci M. 2000 Affect regulation
in alexithymia - An ethological study of
displacement behavior during psychiatric
interviews. Journal Of Nervous And Mental
Disease 188: (1) 13-18
Tous les travaux
de B. Deputte
- Food-reinforced
yawning in Macaca tonkeana Anderson JR,
Wunderlich D
- Yawning,
scratching, and protruded lips: differential
conditionability of natural acts in Pigtail
Monkeys Louboungou M, Anderson JR
- Displacement
activities and arousal J Delius
- Some comparative
aspects of yawning in Betta splendens, Homos
sapiens, Panthera leo, Papio sphinx R
Baenninger
- Yawning in old world
monkey, Macaca nigra Hadidian
- The influence
of age, sex, rank on yawning behavior in two
species of macaques Troisi A, Aureli F
- Inhibition
of social behavior in chimpanzees under
high-density conditions Aureli F, de Waal
FB
- L'évolution
des primates
- L'expression
des émotions chez l'homme et les
animaux Charles Darwin
- Yawning: an
evolutionary perspective Smith
- The
effects of fluoxetine and buspirone on
self-injurious and stereotypic behavior in adult
male rhesus macaques. Fontenot MB, Padgett
EE et al
- Effects of
Outdoor Housing on Self-Injurious and
Stereotypic Behavior in Adult Male Rhesus
Macaques Fontenot et al
- Aging,
dominance history, and social behavior in
Java-monkey. Veenema HC, Spruijt BM, et
al
- Displacement
activities as a behavioral measure of stress in
nonhuman primates and human subjects Troisi
A
- An
interpretation of the "displacement
phenomenon" Bindra B
Derived
activities: their causation; biological
signifiance, origin and emancipation during
evolution
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Biol
1952;27:1-32
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phenomenon"
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Psychology
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- Displacement
activities and arousal
- Delius J
Nature-1967;214:1259-1260
-
- Displacement
activities as a behavioral measure of stress
in
nonhuman primates and human subjects
- Troisi A Stress
2002;5(1):47-54
-
- A modest
proposal: displacement activities as an
indicator of emotions in primates
- Maestripieri D, Schino G, Aureli F, Troisi P
Anim Behav
1992;44:967-979
-
- The
effects of fluoxetine and buspirone on
self-injurious and stereotypic behavior in adult
male rhesus macaques
- Fontenot MB, Padgett EE et al Comp Med
2005;55(1):67-74
-
- Effects of
outdoor housing on self-Injurious and
stereotypic behavior in adult Male Rhesus
Macaques (Macaca mulatta)
- Fontenot MB, Wilkes MN, Lynch CS
J Am Ass Laboratory Animal
Science 2006; 45(5):35-43
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- Extinction
deficits in male rhesus macaques with a history
of self-injurious behavior
- Lutz C, Tiefenbacher S, Meyer J, Novak M.
Am J Primatol
2004;63(2):41-48
-
- Inhibition
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high-density conditions
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Primatol
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-
- Frequencies and
contexts of gape yawn displays of free-ranging
Patas Monkeys
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Am J Primatol
1998;45(2):215
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the comparative phenomenon of systematic
stretching
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-
- Uber
das Gähnen bei Vögeln
- Bergmann H Die
Vögelwelt
1966;87(5):134-138
-
- Zur
Frage des Gähnens bei der
Vögel
- Löhrl H Die
Vögelwelt 1967;88(3):85-86
-
- Maintenance
activities
- Dilger W Zeitsch.
Tierpsychologie
1960;17:649-685
-
- Yawning in the
Greenfinch
- Harrison JO AUK
1968;55:511
-
- Yawning and
other maintenance activities in the South
African Ostrich
- Sauer EG, Sauer EM The
Auk
1967;84:571-587
-
- Zum geruchlichen
Beutefinden und
Gähnen der Kreuzkröte
- Heuser H Zeitschrift
für TierPsychologie
1958;15:94-98
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- New
evidence for a locus coeruleus norepinephrine
connection with anxiety.
- Redmond DE, Wang Y Life
Sciences 1979;25(26):2149-2162
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- Limbic-midbrain
lesions and acth-induced excessive
grooming
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Sciences. 1977;21:393-402
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bystanders in geladas (Theropithecus gelada)
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Biology 2015;xx:1-9
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