The Relation of Heart Rate and Spontaneous Motor Behaviour is the Rat

Abstract

<p>The thesis seeks to determine the heart rate of the rat which normally accompanies the performance of spontaneous motor behaviors such as resting, head movement, walking, rearing, scratching, biting, face washing, and licking. The results indicate that different motor patterns are associated with different heart rates. In particular, heart rate increases during behaviors which involve vertical posture and/or phasic movement. Heart rate is also recorded under conditions designed to alter the level of arousal, i.e., food deprivation. Mean heart rate of each of the spontaneous behaviors does not increase as a result of food deprivation. Therefore, heart rate is considered to be primarily an index of motor activity.</p>