Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2013 Apr 8;368(1618):20120344.
doi: 10.1098/rstb.2012.0344. Print 2013 May 19.

Behavioural profiles are shaped by social experience: when, how and why

Affiliations
Review

Behavioural profiles are shaped by social experience: when, how and why

Norbert Sachser et al. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. .

Abstract

The comprehensive understanding of individual variation in behavioural profiles is a current and timely topic not only in behavioural ecology, but also in biopsychological and biomedical research. This study focuses on the shaping of behavioural profiles by the social environment in mammals. We review evidence that the shaping of behavioural profiles occurs from the prenatal phase through adolescence and beyond. We focus specifically on adolescence, a sensitive phase during which environmental stimuli have distinctive effects on the modulation of behavioural profiles. We discuss causation, in particular, how behavioural profiles are shaped by social stimuli through behavioural and neuroendocrine processes. We postulate a central role for maternal hormones during the prenatal phase, for maternal behaviour during lactation and for the interaction of testosterone and stress hormones during adolescence. We refer to evolutionary history and attempt to place developmental shaping into broader evolutionary historical trends. Finally, we address survival value. We argue that the shaping of behavioural profiles by environmental stimuli from the prenatal phase through adolescence represents an effective mechanism for repeated and rapid adaptation during the lifetime. Notably, the adolescent phase may provide a last chance for correction if the future environment deviates from that predicted in earlier phases.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Adaptive modulation of behavioural profile during early phases of life. The behavioural profile of the offspring is affected by his/her genotype as well as the social environment in which the mother lives during pregnancy and lactation. Social environmental factors act on the pregnant and lactating female. The behavioural profile of offspring can be shaped via maternal hormones and/or maternal behaviour and thus be adapted to the environment in which the mother lives. The arrow from ‘offspring’ to ‘pregnant/lactating female’ indicates that the foetus/infant is not a passive recipient of the maternal signals, but rather signalling is bidirectional (for details see text). Redrawn after Sachser et al. [4] with permission from Elsevier.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Adaptive modulation of behavioural profile in adolescent males. Variation in social environment (low versus high individual numbers) during this phase of life triggers endocrine pathways that result in behavioural profiles and strategies that match the current environmental situations. Note that concerning testosterone a specific organizational effect on HPA responsiveness is suggested that probably occurs at just this period of life. Possible activational effects of increased testosterone on aggression are not addressed. Reprinted from Sachser et al. [4] with permission from Elsevier.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Increase in plasma cortisol levels (ng ml−1) 1 h after the onset of a psychological stressor (novel environment). Indicated are mean and s.e. of mean. Statistics: mixed factorial ANOVA, post hoc testing: Bonferroni–Holm corrected independent-samples as well as paired-samples t-tests. (a) PAIR, pair-housed males; PAIR+, pair-housed males with additional social stimulation. Statistics: main effect of group, p = 0.024; interaction of age × group, p = 0.049; n = 11. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001. (b) GDX, gonadectomized males; SHAM, sham-gonadectomized males. Statistics: main effect of age, p = 0.033; main effect of group, p = 0.007; interaction of age × group, p = 0.001. nGDX = 8, nSHAM = 7. **p ≤ 0.01; ***p ≤ 0.001. (c) TM, males treated with testosterone undecanoate; VM, males treated with vehicle. Statistics: interaction of age × group, p = 0.002. n = 12. *p ≤ 0.05; **p ≤ 0.01. Redrawn after [94,95] with permission from Elsevier.

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Heiming RS, Sachser N. 2010. Consequences of serotonin transporter genotype and early adversity on behavioral profile: pathology or adaptation? Front. Neurosci. 4, 187.10.3389/fnins.2010.00187 (doi:10.3389/fnins.2010.00187) - DOI - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Sih A, Bell A, Johnson JC. 2004. Behavioural syndromes: an ecological and evolutionary overview. Trends Ecol. Evol. 19, 372–37810.1016/j.tree.2004.04.009 (doi:10.1016/j.tree.2004.04.009) - DOI - DOI - PubMed
    1. Reale D, Reader SM, Sol D, McDougall PT, Dingemanse NJ. 2007. Integrating animal temperament within ecology and evolution. Biol. Rev. 82, 291–31810.1111/j.1469-185X.2007.00010.x (doi:10.1111/j.1469-185X.2007.00010.x) - DOI - DOI - PubMed
    1. Sachser N, Hennessy MB, Kaiser S. 2011. Adaptive modulation of behavioural profiles by social stress during early phases of life and adolescence. Neurosci. Biobehav. Rev. 35, 1518–153310.1016/j.neubiorev.2010.09.002 (doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2010.09.002) - DOI - DOI - PubMed
    1. Gross C, Hen R. 2004. The developmental origins of anxiety. Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 5, 545–55210.1038/nrn1429 (doi:10.1038/nrn1429) - DOI - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

Substances

LinkOut - more resources