Programming social, cognitive, and neuroendocrine development by early exposure to novelty.

ABSTRACT: Mildly stressful early life experiences can potentially impact a broad range of social, cognitive, and physiological functions in humans, nonhuman primates, and rodents. Recent rodent studies favor a maternal-mediation hypothesis that considers maternal-care differences induced by neonatal stimulation as the cause of individual differences in offspring development. Using neonatal novelty exposure, a neonatal stimulation paradigm that dissociates maternal individual differences from a direct stimulation effect on the offspring, we investigated the effect of early exposures to novelty on a diverse range of psychological functions using several assessment paradigms. Pups that received brief neonatal novelty exposures away from the home environment showed enhancement in spatial working memory,

SUBMITTER: Tang AC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1622887 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature