Effects of Repeated Testing and Early Handling on Skin Conductance, Defecation and Activity in an Aversive Situation

Abstract

The purpose of the present experiments was to determine whether a change in skin conductance is a reliable component of the fear pattern in the mouse. In these experiments, the sight of E was employed as an aversive stimulus. SC and defecation increased and activity decreased when the stimulus was presented. The SC and defecation responses tended to adapt with repeated testing. Decreases in activity on Day 1 were replaced by increases on subsequent days. Early handling severely attenuated the SC, defecation and freezing responses that would be normally seen on the first day of testing.