Context-dependent individual differences in playfulness in male rats
Open accessAbstract
Play has been proposed as an indicator of positive emotions and welfare in higher vertebrates. This study investigated playfulness in male rats by exploring its consistency across motivational states (with/without prior short social isolation) and two age points at early and late adolescence. Twenty-four male Lister Hooded rats housed in cages of four underwent two play tests: conspecific Play-in-Pairs and Tickling by the experimenter, which were compared with play in the home cage and basal anxiety levels. Play-in-Pairs measures were consistent across age and motivational states, and were independent from anxiety. Positively valenced vocalizations in the Tickling test were also consistent across age, yet were negatively related to anxiety. Play-in-Pairs and Tickling play contexts, as well as social and solitary play types, were unrelated. Therefore, this study supports the existence of consistent individual differences in playfulness in rats, and suggests that different play contexts and types represent motivationally distinct systems.
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Even within members of the same sex and same strain, not all individual rats play to the same degree; some rats consistently play more than others.
“Even within members of the same sex and same strain, not all individuals play to the same degree—some rats consistently play more than others (Lampe et al., 2017; Lesscher et al., 2021).”
From The rough-and-tumble play of rats as a natural behavior suitable for studying the social brain (2022) · cites this paper as Lampe et al., 2017
Cites
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Play fighting and the development of the social brain: The rat’s tale
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The rough-and-tumble play of rats as a natural behavior suitable for studying the social brain
Pellis, S. M., Pellis, V. C., Ham, J. R., & Achterberg, E. J. M. (2022) · Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2022.1033999 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
“Even within members of the same sex and same strain, not all individuals play to the same degree—some rats consistently play more than others (Lampe et al., 2017; Lesscher et al., 2021).”
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Evaluating the play fighting of rats: A sociological perspective
Ham, J. R., Pellis, S. M., Pellis, V. C., & Achterberg, E. J. M. (2026) · Journal of Neuroscience Methods · doi:10.1016/j.jneumeth.2026.110836
- Authors
- Lampe, J. F., Burman, O., Würbel, H., & Melotti, L.
- Affiliations
- University of Bern (CH)
- University of Lincoln (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Melotti, Luca
- Venue
- Developmental Psychobiology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2017-03
- Volume
- 59
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 460-472
- ISSN
- 0012-1630 (ISSN-L)
- 1098-2302
- OpenAlex
- W2591641658
- Cited by
- 30
- References
- 13
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 2
- FWCI
- 4.78
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- figshare.com
- Locations
- Developmental Psychobiology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Lincoln Repository (University of Lincoln) (acceptedVersion)
- BORIS (University Library Bern) (submittedVersion)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Swiss National Science Foundation (31003A_144088)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Veterinary › Small Animals › Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Animal Behavior and Reproduction
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Primate Behavior and Ecology
- Keywords
- playfulness, individual differences, rats, social isolation, adolescence, anxiety, positive emotions, welfare indicators, tickling, vocalizations, social play, solitary play, motivational states
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Behavior, Animal, Individuality, Male, Social Behavior, Vocalization, Animal, Rats
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