Genotype and environment interactively determine the magnitude, directionality, and abolition of defensive burying in mice

Abstract

Genotypic and environmental contributions to the defensive burying response were examined by testing four sublines of two inbred strains of mice in test chambers of three different lengths. Burying was found to be dependent on both the particular subline tested and the length of the test chamber employed. For two sublines, specific increases in the length of the test chamber resulted in the complete abolition of defensive burying. A third subline never displayed defensive burying, and the fourth buried in all three chamber-length conditions. Sex differences in burying were never observed. Rather than being viewed as a species-specific defensive reaction, it was proposed that defensive burying should more appropriately be viewed as a genotypically dependent response, the expression of which is contingent on the specific environmental context in which an aversive stimulus is encountered. Apparent conflicts in the defensive-burying literature were reconciled in accordance with this interpretation. © 1983 Psychonomic Society, Inc.