CONSEQUENCES OF SOCIAL-ISOLATION OF ADULT -RATS - DEXTRALS, SINISTRALS, AND AMBIDEXTRALS

We stidied the influence of social isolation at the age of 2 months on zoosocial behaviour of mixed-bred male rats with different paw prefer ence. Paw preference was determined in the test of reaching for food i n the horizontal tube. The level of aggression but not sociability was found to increase significantly in dextral and ambidextral late isola nts. In sinistrals the increase of sociability but not aggression was observed. Analysis of probabilistic ethological structure of aggressiv e behaviour showed its validity and revealed the appearance of patholo gical aggression as a result of isolation in all groups of animals. Be ing connected with a disfunction of the regulating role of the right b rain hemisphere this feature of aggressive behaviour is most pronounce d in dextrals and ambidextrals.