Temperamental traits in mice(II): Consistency across apparatus

Abstract

The present study examines the consistency across apparatus of murine activity, anxiety and novelty seeking traits. The activity, anxiety and novelty seeking factor scores extracted from the study of Ibáñez et al. (2007) were correlated with several behaviours assessed in tests of activity and anxiety (photocell box and light-dark test; sub-sample 1 = 32) and novelty seeking (circular corridor; sub-sample 2 = 65). The activity factor predicted ambulation behaviour in all the apparatus used; the anxiety factor inversely predicted the time in the light side of the light-dark test, whereas novelty seeking predicted ambulation in the circular corridor. We have described three moderately consistent factors in mice, supporting the proposal that they could be considered to be homologous to the human personality traits activity, anxiety and novelty seeking. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.