Cited by 72Neuroendocrine regulation and behaviorStress Responses and CortisolNeurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior

Early-life maternal separation and social isolation produce an increase in impulsive action but not impulsive choice

Lovic, Vedran, Keen, Darren, Fletcher, Paul J., Fleming, Alison S.·2011·Behavioral Neuroscience

Abstract

Early life environment, events, and context, such as mother-offspring relationship, can have profound effects on future behavior and physiology. We investigated the effects of long-term maternal and social separation, through artificial rearing, on adult impulsivity. Rats were maternally reared (MR) or artificially reared (AR) and half of the AR rats were provided with replacement somatosensory stimulation intended to simulate maternal licking. There are at least 2 forms of impulsivity and we compared rats on 1 test of impulsive action (differential reinforcement of low rates of responding-DRL-20s) and 2 tests of impulsive choice (delay discounting and fixed consecutive number schedule-FCN). We found that AR rats are more action impulsive; however, this effect can be reduced by maternal licking-like stimulation. In contrast, AR rats did not display an increase in impulsive choice. Overall, these experiments show that early life maternal and social separation have different effects on the 2 forms of impulsivity.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1037/a0024367

Cites

52 of 52 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Rodents reared in isolation displayed more inattentive and impulsive behaviors.

    “displayed more inattentive and impulsive behaviors (Lovic et al., 2011; Ouchi et al., 2013),”

    From The maternal brain and its plasticity in humans (2016) · cites this paper as Lovic et al., 2011

  • Early exposure to low quality maternal care may alter the development of dopaminergic pathways associated with reward-related behaviors and response to drugs.

    “Early exposure to low quality maternal care may also alter the development of dopaminergic pathways associated with reward-related behaviors, and response to drugs.”

    From The maternal brain and its plasticity in humans (2016) · cites this paper as Lovic et al., 2011

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Lovic, V., Keen, D., Fletcher, P. J., & Fleming, A. S.
Affiliations
  • University of Toronto (CA)
  • Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CA)
Venue
Behavioral Neuroscience
Published
2011
Volume
125
Issue
4
Pages
481-491
ISSN
  • 0735-7044 (ISSN-L)
  • 1939-0084
OpenAlex
W2037084677
Cited by
72
References
52
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 2
FWCI
7.40
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Behavioral Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
Keywords
maternal separation, social isolation, artificial rearing, impulsivity, impulsive action, impulsive choice, delay discounting, differential reinforcement of low rates, maternal licking, somatosensory stimulation, early life environment, rats
MeSH terms
Analysis of Variance, Animals, Animals, Newborn, Choice Behavior, Conditioning, Operant, Female, Food Deprivation, Impulsive Behavior, Male, Maternal Deprivation, Reinforcement, Psychology, Reinforcement Schedule, Social Isolation, Time Factors, Rats, Sprague-Dawley, Rats

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review