Comparison of the behavior of stock and inbred albino rats

Ada W. Yerkes
1916 Journal of Animal Behavior  
For a number of years the Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology has been earning on experiments in inbreeding the albino rat, Mas Noroegicus albums, for the purpose of studying the anatomical effects of such procedure. In October, 1911, some of the rats, which had then been inbred to the sixth generation, were sent to the Johns Hopkins University and were used by Doctor Basset 1 for comparative studies in habit formation. , In April, 1913, while Basset's experiments were still in progress,
more » ... suggestion of similar cooperation in the study of the effects of inbreeding on the formation of habits was made by the Wistar Institute to the Harvard Psychological Laboratory and gladly accepted. It was then so late in the collegiate year that only a few preliminary experiments w r ere made at that time by Professor Yerkes and two students, using the method of brightness discrimination. The following October the writer undertook, at Professor Yerkes' suggestion, 2 a study of certain 1 Basset, G C. Habit formation m a strain of albino rats of less than normal bram weight. Behavior Monographs, 1914, vol. 2, no 4. 2 In suggesting to Mrs Yerkes a comparative study of stock and inbred rats, I expressed especial interest in the attempt to analyze "the temperament" of the animals, for certain previous observations in comparison with those reported by Basset had convinced me that crude measurements of modifiability, if directly compared, might lead to seriously misleading conclusions because of differences m timidity, savageness, aggressiveness, sensibility, etc., in the two groups of organisms under observation. Mrs. Yerkes' work, unfortunately, was seriously interfered with by unexpected , difficulties in the breeding of rats in the new Harvard Laboratory of Animal Psychology. From the statistical standpoint, her results are unsatisfactory because of this difficulty. 268 ADA \V. YERKES
doi:10.1037/h0075927 fatcat:vqnmth2pbzdathhyj7aqessocm