Domestication is a process in which animals become adapted to a life among humans by means of selection. A reduced fear of humans is probably one of the first aims of selection, intentionally or unintentionally. Animals that have undergone the process of domestication have a different appearance than animals in the wild (domestic phenotype) and behave in a different way towards humans. In this study I have looked at foraging and explorative behaviours in an unselected parental generation of red junglefowl and their offspring. The parental generation were bred in three lines, a high line, with birds displaying a strong fear of humans, an intermediate line, birds showing a modest fear, and one low line, with birds performing a more tame behaviour towards humans. I presented the birds with three different feeding alternatives, familiar chicken food, meal worms camouflaged with wood shavings and just wood shavings. I counted number of pecks in the different food options, number of changes between sites and how many sites a bird visited. The results show that females of both generations were more explorative than males, by pecking more in cups of meal worms hidden in wood shavings whereas the males pecked more in cups containing chicken food. Females also moved around more in the arena. Results from the first selected generation show significant differences between the selection lines among the females, with females from the high and low groups being the most explorative.

Stress affects a number of animals and is a survival mechanism. During stress, changes in the animal’s physiological mechanisms and changes in behavioural reactions will happen. This study evaluates four different stressors that can occur in a chicken’s life. The four stressors are fixation, social isolation, predation and transport. 40 White Leghorn chicken from age sex to seven weeks were used in the study. An open-field test was used to evaluate the stressors. The open-field test registered time for ambulation, time for first change of zones, number of zones used and number of registrations in central zones. The chicken was expected to ambulate in the open-field arena since chickens are curious but the activity was expected to be different depending on which stressor the chicken was exposed to. Previous studies have shown that more stressed birds are less active in an open-field test than birds that are not stressed. A control group was included in the study and this group was not exposed to a stressor. The results did not show any significant dereferences between time for the first change of zones, number of zones used and number of registrations in central zones. However, there was a tendency for a significant difference in time to first ambulation. The results suggested that the control group and the group that was exposed to social isolation displayed most stress-related behaviour. Least stressed was the predation group and the transport group.

Originally developed as an anti-depressant and later available as a ‘party-pill’ in New Zealand, methylone is currently classed as an illegal drug. This is due to findings of its similarity in chemical structure to that of Ecstasy (MDMA). Methylone is a relatively new drug into which little research has been conducted. Consequently, no known study has investigated the long-term effects on behavioural development arising from exposure during adolescence. The present thesis therefore aimed to identify long-term effects of chronic adolescent exposure to methylone on adult anxiety-like behaviours. This was achieved by the use of 80 rats (40 males: 40 females) and exposing them to either a methylone or saline treatment for ten consecutive days. Two different treatment age groups (early versus late adolescence) were examined and to ensure adequate comparisons could be made, two control groups were utilised. All rats were tested during adulthood in four specifically selected anxiety-measure tests; the open-field, preference for the light side of a light-dark box, acoustic startle and responsiveness to the novel arm of a Y-maze. The results suggested methylone-exposed rats displayed more anxiolytic behaviours than saline-treated rats. In the open field methylone exposed rats exhibited less ambulation than controls and those treated in early adolescence defecated more while rats treated in late adolescence occupied the corners of the apparatus more exhibiting higher anxiety-like behaviours. Exploratory behaviours in the Y-maze were decreased in methylone-treated rats, and those exposed in early adolescence entered the novel arm less often. However, acoustic startle results suggested methylone-exposed rats were less anxious as evidenced by a lower startle amplitude than controls. Overall, the results suggested differences in anxiety-like behaviours between methylone-exposed rats and controls. It did not appear that being exposed to methylone in early adolescence resulted in vast differences in anxiety-like behaviours than if exposure began in late adolescence.

Two crucial issues related to personality in non-human animals have been identified: firstly, the underlying 'causes' of personality and,secondly, the stability of behavioural repertoires (essentially the defining feature of personality) have both been the subject of long-standing debate. This thesis is focused on investigating stable inter- and intra- individual differences in the behaviour of wildcaught bank voles, Myodes glareolus (that varied according to mtDNA type), and in common voles, Microtus arvalis. The first study, using wild voles, revealed empirical evidence about the effects of sex and mtDNA type on individual differences in basal metabolic rate and in behaviour in the open field which provides measures of approach and avoidance (here, generically termed 'proactivity') and which relate to several theoretical conceptualisations of animal personality. The second study demonstrated the presence of stable individual differences in reactions to exposure to open field test and radial maze in common voles, which were shaped by the social environment and in turn, related to cognitive efficiency. The same species was used in the third study documenting the distinct temporal patterns of behavioural plasticity that manifested over repeated exposures to the open field test. We suggest that this distinct temporal patterning in habituation, whilst it varied over time, was predictable in nature and therefore a reflection of a stable underlying personality. To conclude, this body of thesis work draws together a number of influencing factors, and considers their contribution to animal personality.

As escolas de hoje possuem ainda forte herança da revolução industrial, com um viés assistencialista, visando “guardar” as crianças e prepará-las para o mercado de trabalho. No entanto, há escolas que buscam fugir deste modelo, encontrando em seu caminho fortes pressões homogeneizantes, seja de parâmetros curriculares de órgãos governamentais, de pressões mercadológicas e, até mesmo, dos pais de seus alunos. Mesmo existindo tais pressões, algumas escolas ainda desenvolvem a sua autonomia, encontrando práticas de gestão e educação próprias. Essa pesquisa busca olhar estas práticas – que demonstram aspectos de unicidade das escolas –, propondo-se a observar como emerge o novo em um ambiente marcado predominantemente por um pensamento tradicional, burocrático e empresarial. Para embasar esta análise, trazemos alguns elementos teóricos. Em primeiro lugar, discute-se o momento da educação no Brasil, questionando a lógica instrumental predominante a partir das visões de autores como Guerreiro Ramos, Tragtenberg e Prestes Motta. Em seguida, para analisar o surgimento de novas ações e práticas de gestão e educação, nos fizemos valer de autores que se pautam em uma abordagem processual, utilizando, portanto, o conceito de Campo Aberto de Robert Cooper (1976). O autor nos oferece a possibilidade de observar as organizações de forma mais compreensiva, em seus momentos de estrutura e processo, permitindo perceber como se dá a criação do novo. Como se resgatam coisas que estão em sua não forma, no latente, abstratas para o universo concreto, real, a circunstância literal. Isso se dá a partir das crises, rupturas, acasos, modelos abertos de mudança, como crescem e se desenvolvem os projetos de forma natural – da projeção à construção –, ou fazendo um caminho inverso Foi a partir desse subsídio teórico que esse estudo buscou três escolas brasileiras para conhecer e observar: Escola Waldorf Querência, em Porto Alegre – RS; Oga Mitá, no Rio de Janeiro – RJ; e Casa Escola, em Natal – RN. Para a análise de cada uma dessas escolas – que compuseram um estudo de casos múltiplos –, foram utilizados dados secundários a partir de pesquisa documental e dados primários coletados a partir de observação participante, diários de campo, entrevistas abertas e entrevistas semiestruturadas realizadas em três períodos: novembro e dezembro de 2016 na Escola Waldorf Querência; fevereiro e março de 2017 na Oga Mitá; e maio de 2017 na Casa Escola. Através da análise dos dados coletados, com o auxílio do software Nvivo, observou-se que as escolas estudadas valorizam o aspecto humano da educação, respeitando a individualidade dos alunos, assim como o cuidado com os profissionais da escola e os familiares dos estudantes. As três escolas mostram-se bastante abertas ao diálogo e à participação – de diferentes formas e intensidades Observou-se, ainda, que as práticas desenvolvidas nestas escolas repercutem na comunidade escolar fazendo com que haja, muitas vezes, uma ressignificação de sua compreensão do que é escola, que passa a ser visto como algo mais amplo e prazeroso. Por fim, ao se analisarem como surgem as práticas inovadoras, percebeu-se que estas escolas não se prendem tanto às imagens prévias e aos padrões, mostrando abertura para a emergência de novas práticas através de momentos de ruptura, crises, acasos, mudanças abertas, dentre outros, em uma clara alternância entre períodos de maior propensão à estrutura e outros que se inclinam ao processo. Ao analisarmos os casos da Querência, Casa Escola e Oga Mitá, percebemos que os novos elementos, práticas e ações que caracterizam estas escolas e as tornam diferentes das instituições que seguem linhas tradicionais, emergem dada sua capacidade de abrir-se à mudança, mantendo espaços de resistência ao mesmo tempo em que equilibram pressões diversas para conformarem-se. / Schools today still possess a great heritage from the industrial revolution, with an assistentialist bias, aiming to “keep” the children and preparing them to the workplace. However, there are schools that aim to escape from such model, finding in their path a great deal of homogenizing pressure, from obligatory curriculums issued by the state, education market and even from parents of students. Even with such pressures, a few schools manage to develop some autonomy, creating their own personal practices of management and education. This research aims to investigate such practices – which demonstrate unique aspects of the schools –, observing how new practices emerge in an environment marked predominantly by a traditional, bureaucratic and business mindset. To base our analysis, we bring different theoretical elements. First, we discuss the moment of education in Brazil, questioning the predominant instrumental logic from the point of view of authors such as Guerreiro Ramos, Maurício Tragtenberg and Prestes Motta. Second, to analyze the emergence of new actions and practices in management and education, we make use of authors that use an approach based on process philosophy, mainly the Open Field concept from Robert Cooper (1976). Cooper offers us the possibility to observe organizations in a more comprehensive manner, in its moments of structure and process, allowing us to perceive the emergence of novel actions and practices; how to rescue things that are still potential, latent, abstract to the concrete, real universe. This happens through crisis, ruptures, chance, open models of change, which grow and develop the projects naturally – from projection to construction –, or making the inverse path. develop the projects naturally – from projection to construction –, or making the inverse path. It was from this theoretical subsidy that this study looked for three Brazilian schools to visit and observe: Querência Waldorf School, in Porto Alegre (RS), Oga Mitá, in Rio de Janeiro (RJ), and Casa Escola, in Natal (RN). To analyze each school – as a multiple case study – secondary data was used from documental research and primary data was collected from participant observation, research diaries, and open and semi-structured interviews in the following periods: November and December 2016 at Waldorf Querência; February and March 2017 at Oga Mitá and May of 2017 at Casa Escola. Through analysis of collected data using Nvivo software, it was observed that these schools value the human aspect of education, respecting students’ individuality, and caring for their professionals and the family of the students. The three schools were shown to be very open to dialogue and participation – in different ways and intensities. It was observed, also, that the practices developed in these schools reverberate through the school community creating in many cases a change in the comprehension of what a school is, becoming something broader and more positive Finally, while analyzing how innovative practices emerge, it was perceived that this schools do not fixate excessively in past images and patterns, showing an opening to the emergence of new practices through moments of rupture, crisis, chances, planned open changes, among others, in a clear interchange between moments closer to a structure and others closer to process. When analyzing the cases of Querência, Casa Escola and Oga Mitá, we perceive that new elements, practices and actions that characterize these schools and make them different from more traditional institutions emerge from their capacity to remain open to change, keeping spaces of resistance at the same time in which they balance many pressures to conform.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T20:21:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 4203.pdf: 1547039 bytes, checksum: fbfd6a9b5b93509ee40ca815bcf3a07b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-02-14 / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / In mammals, newborns need parental care, mostly maternal care, to succeed in development. Mother emotionality may affect development at initial stages or even emotionality of the offspring in adulthood. In the present study we investigate emotionality, in maternal period, by performing the open field test in mice females from SM/J, LG/J inbred lines and generations F1 and F2 from this intercross. F2 females were also tested in nonmaternal phase. We investigate if F2 females emotionality was associated with variation in weight gain and offspring viability. Finally, we perform QTLs analysis (Quantitative Trait Loci) aiming to study genetic architecture of emotionality at postpartum phase. Ethological analysis indicates that LG/J females seem to have higher level of anxiety when compared to SM/J females. F1 and F2 generations did not show significant differences in most of the phenotypes analyzed. In the contrast between maternal and non-maternal phases of F2 females, it seems females were less anxious in non-maternal phase. In the relationship between anxiety and weight gain among F2 females we observed that several ethological data show significant association with weight gain in some period of life of these females. However, the ethological variations do not seem to interfere in the offspring survival. QTL analysis revealed 11 individual QTLs associated to the phenotypes grooming, immobility, activity at center, and motor activity, that accounts between 5 and 9% of emotionality variation. Beside individual QTLs, we found a total of 88 epistatic QTLs involving the five evaluated phenotypes that together with the individual QTLs explain 24 to 53% of emotionality variation in postpartum females. The present study allowed the identification of putative candidate genes, as well as their relative size effects and patterns of gene action affecting mice emotionality. These results reveal that genetic architecture of emotionality of LG/J x SM/J dams is complex, since indicate the existence of many genes, including the interaction among them in a complex network of epistasis. Besides the genetic basis, is worth noted that environment also have a important impact in emotions through epigenetic mechanisms. / Em mamíferos, filhotes recém-nascidos necessitam de cuidados para que tenham sucesso em seu desenvolvimento. Esse sucesso está diretamente relacionado ao cuidado materno, cujas alterações na emocionalidade da mãe podem afetar o desenvolvimento dos filhotes nos estágios iniciais ou mesmo a própria emocionalidade dos filhotes na idade adulta. No presente estudo investigamos a emocionalidade no período materno, utilizando o teste de campo aberto, em fêmeas de camundongos SM/J, LG/J e gerações F1 e F2 deste intercruzamento, sendo a última também testada para fase não materna. Também averiguamos se a emocionalidade em fêmeas F2 estava associada com a variação do ganho em peso nestas fêmeas e com a viabilidade de sua progênie. Finalmente, utilizamos a análise de QTLs (Quantitative Trait Loci) com o intuito de estudar a arquitetura genética da emocionalidade na fase pós-parto. A análise etológica revela indícios de que fêmeas LG/J apresentam um maior nível de ansiedade quando comparadas com fêmeas SM/J. As gerações F1 e F2 não apresentaram diferenças significativas na maioria dos fenótipos analisados e no contraste entre fase materna e não materna para fêmeas F2, as últimas parecem ser menos ansiosa que as primeiras. Na relação entre ansiedade e ganho em peso entre as fêmeas F2, verificamos que vários dados etológicos estão significativamente associados com o ganho em peso em algum período da vida destas fêmeas. No entanto, as variações etológicas parecem não interferir na sobrevivência da progênie. A análise de QTL revelou 11 QTLs individuais associados aos fenótipos groming, imobilidade, atividade no centro e atividade motora, que respondem entre 5 a 9% da variação de emocionalidade. Além dos QTLs individuais, encontramos um total de 76 QTLs epistáticos envolvendo os cinco fenótipos avaliados, que juntamente com os QTLs individuais explicam de 24 a 53 % da variação de emocionalidade em fêmeas pós-parto. Este estudo permitiu a identificação de potenciais genes candidato, bem como o tamanho relativo dos efeitos do gene e os padrões de ação gênica afetando emocionalidade em camundongos. Esses resultados revelam que a arquitetura genética da emocionalidade de mães LG/J x SM/J é complexa, pois indica a existência de muitos genes, incluindo as interações entre eles em uma complexa rede de epistasia. Além da base genética, vale ressaltar que o ambiente também pode apresentar um grande impacto nas emoções por meio de mecanismos epigenéticos.

As escolas de hoje possuem ainda forte herança da revolução industrial, com um viés assistencialista, visando “guardar” as crianças e prepará-las para o mercado de trabalho. No entanto, há escolas que buscam fugir deste modelo, encontrando em seu caminho fortes pressões homogeneizantes, seja de parâmetros curriculares de órgãos governamentais, de pressões mercadológicas e, até mesmo, dos pais de seus alunos. Mesmo existindo tais pressões, algumas escolas ainda desenvolvem a sua autonomia, encontrando práticas de gestão e educação próprias. Essa pesquisa busca olhar estas práticas – que demonstram aspectos de unicidade das escolas –, propondo-se a observar como emerge o novo em um ambiente marcado predominantemente por um pensamento tradicional, burocrático e empresarial. Para embasar esta análise, trazemos alguns elementos teóricos. Em primeiro lugar, discute-se o momento da educação no Brasil, questionando a lógica instrumental predominante a partir das visões de autores como Guerreiro Ramos, Tragtenberg e Prestes Motta. Em seguida, para analisar o surgimento de novas ações e práticas de gestão e educação, nos fizemos valer de autores que se pautam em uma abordagem processual, utilizando, portanto, o conceito de Campo Aberto de Robert Cooper (1976). O autor nos oferece a possibilidade de observar as organizações de forma mais compreensiva, em seus momentos de estrutura e processo, permitindo perceber como se dá a criação do novo. Como se resgatam coisas que estão em sua não forma, no latente, abstratas para o universo concreto, real, a circunstância literal. Isso se dá a partir das crises, rupturas, acasos, modelos abertos de mudança, como crescem e se desenvolvem os projetos de forma natural – da projeção à construção –, ou fazendo um caminho inverso Foi a partir desse subsídio teórico que esse estudo buscou três escolas brasileiras para conhecer e observar: Escola Waldorf Querência, em Porto Alegre – RS; Oga Mitá, no Rio de Janeiro – RJ; e Casa Escola, em Natal – RN. Para a análise de cada uma dessas escolas – que compuseram um estudo de casos múltiplos –, foram utilizados dados secundários a partir de pesquisa documental e dados primários coletados a partir de observação participante, diários de campo, entrevistas abertas e entrevistas semiestruturadas realizadas em três períodos: novembro e dezembro de 2016 na Escola Waldorf Querência; fevereiro e março de 2017 na Oga Mitá; e maio de 2017 na Casa Escola. Através da análise dos dados coletados, com o auxílio do software Nvivo, observou-se que as escolas estudadas valorizam o aspecto humano da educação, respeitando a individualidade dos alunos, assim como o cuidado com os profissionais da escola e os familiares dos estudantes. As três escolas mostram-se bastante abertas ao diálogo e à participação – de diferentes formas e intensidades Observou-se, ainda, que as práticas desenvolvidas nestas escolas repercutem na comunidade escolar fazendo com que haja, muitas vezes, uma ressignificação de sua compreensão do que é escola, que passa a ser visto como algo mais amplo e prazeroso. Por fim, ao se analisarem como surgem as práticas inovadoras, percebeu-se que estas escolas não se prendem tanto às imagens prévias e aos padrões, mostrando abertura para a emergência de novas práticas através de momentos de ruptura, crises, acasos, mudanças abertas, dentre outros, em uma clara alternância entre períodos de maior propensão à estrutura e outros que se inclinam ao processo. Ao analisarmos os casos da Querência, Casa Escola e Oga Mitá, percebemos que os novos elementos, práticas e ações que caracterizam estas escolas e as tornam diferentes das instituições que seguem linhas tradicionais, emergem dada sua capacidade de abrir-se à mudança, mantendo espaços de resistência ao mesmo tempo em que equilibram pressões diversas para conformarem-se. / Schools today still possess a great heritage from the industrial revolution, with an assistentialist bias, aiming to “keep” the children and preparing them to the workplace. However, there are schools that aim to escape from such model, finding in their path a great deal of homogenizing pressure, from obligatory curriculums issued by the state, education market and even from parents of students. Even with such pressures, a few schools manage to develop some autonomy, creating their own personal practices of management and education. This research aims to investigate such practices – which demonstrate unique aspects of the schools –, observing how new practices emerge in an environment marked predominantly by a traditional, bureaucratic and business mindset. To base our analysis, we bring different theoretical elements. First, we discuss the moment of education in Brazil, questioning the predominant instrumental logic from the point of view of authors such as Guerreiro Ramos, Maurício Tragtenberg and Prestes Motta. Second, to analyze the emergence of new actions and practices in management and education, we make use of authors that use an approach based on process philosophy, mainly the Open Field concept from Robert Cooper (1976). Cooper offers us the possibility to observe organizations in a more comprehensive manner, in its moments of structure and process, allowing us to perceive the emergence of novel actions and practices; how to rescue things that are still potential, latent, abstract to the concrete, real universe. This happens through crisis, ruptures, chance, open models of change, which grow and develop the projects naturally – from projection to construction –, or making the inverse path. develop the projects naturally – from projection to construction –, or making the inverse path. It was from this theoretical subsidy that this study looked for three Brazilian schools to visit and observe: Querência Waldorf School, in Porto Alegre (RS), Oga Mitá, in Rio de Janeiro (RJ), and Casa Escola, in Natal (RN). To analyze each school – as a multiple case study – secondary data was used from documental research and primary data was collected from participant observation, research diaries, and open and semi-structured interviews in the following periods: November and December 2016 at Waldorf Querência; February and March 2017 at Oga Mitá and May of 2017 at Casa Escola. Through analysis of collected data using Nvivo software, it was observed that these schools value the human aspect of education, respecting students’ individuality, and caring for their professionals and the family of the students. The three schools were shown to be very open to dialogue and participation – in different ways and intensities. It was observed, also, that the practices developed in these schools reverberate through the school community creating in many cases a change in the comprehension of what a school is, becoming something broader and more positive Finally, while analyzing how innovative practices emerge, it was perceived that this schools do not fixate excessively in past images and patterns, showing an opening to the emergence of new practices through moments of rupture, crisis, chances, planned open changes, among others, in a clear interchange between moments closer to a structure and others closer to process. When analyzing the cases of Querência, Casa Escola and Oga Mitá, we perceive that new elements, practices and actions that characterize these schools and make them different from more traditional institutions emerge from their capacity to remain open to change, keeping spaces of resistance at the same time in which they balance many pressures to conform.

The study investigated the effect of non-genetic social factors (represented by litter size, litter sex composition, and affinity to age cohort) on the development of consistent inter-specific differences in reaction to novelty in common voles (Microtus arvalis). The voles were tested in three behavioural experiments ? Forced Open Filed test (FOF), Unforced Open Field test (UFOF), and Radial-arm maze (RAM). A siginificant impact of compontents of social environment was detected.

Testes comportamentais do tipo Campo Aberto figuram dentre os mais básicos e consolidados para estudos de comportamento animal, sendo, portanto, amplamente utilizados em pesquisas de Neurociência e Farmacologia. Através dele se pode avaliar os efeitos da imposição de diferentes condições no comportamento de animais, bem como comparar ou caracterizar perfis típicos de comportamento entre linhagens de uma mesma espécie. Consistindo de soltar animal em uma caixa e observar, dentre outros parâmetros, seu deslocamento e preferência em permanecer nas áreas próximas às paredes ou nas centrais, a extração desses dados pela forma tradicional acabar por ser limitante à obtenção plena de resultados. Isso posto, este trabalho visa oferecer aos pesquisadores um meio para obter os dados de maneira automatizada, sem o desgaste de ficar assistindo o vídeo do teste para anotar o deslocamento. Escrita em Python, utilizando técnicas consolidadas de Visão Computacional e operações de compreensão acessível, esta ferramenta além de ser Open Source pode ser ajustada à extração de outros parâmetros e à aplicação em outras modalidades do teste, além de oferecer a medida do deslocamento de forma mais precisa. / Open Field Test is a basic and consolidated test used in Animal Behavior studies, especially Neuroscience and Pharmacology. Through it, its possible to evaluate the effects in behavior of imposing different conditions, as well to compare or characterize typical behavior profiles between lineages of the same species. Consisting of releasing an animal in a box and observing, among other parameters, its displacement and preference in remaining in the areas near the walls or in the central ones, the extraction of these data in the traditional way ends up being limiting to obtaining full results. That said, this essay aims to offer researchers a way to get the data in an automated way, without need watching the video of the test to note the displacement. Written in Python, using consolidated techniques of Computational Vision and operations of accessible comprehension, this tool besides being Open Source can be adjusted to the extraction of other parameters and application in other modalities of the test, besides offer a more accurate measure of displacement.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-11T13:59:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Alessandra dos Santos Pereira.pdf: 1365019 bytes, checksum: fd02f208fe12af598bfb554cf21f2d2c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-11-06 / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Amazonas / This project aims to develop an exploratory study of learning in mediating anxiety responses in the Wistar rat . A total of 96 male, albino rats , Wistar , aged 90 and 120 days , weighing roughly between 280g and 350g each, experimentally naive at the first session and deprived of water for 48 hours . The subjects were divided into 3 groups of 32 animals : Group A : control , Group B: experimental ( positive reinforcement - water ), Group C : experimental ( positive reinforcement - refuge) . For the experiment we used the open field , and each session lasted 10 minutes. 4 sessions were conducted with each group of animals , the first and the last pre-test and post-test respectively for all groups. Group A (control ) did not undergo . Group B found a trail of water in the open field , in sessions 2 and 3. The group C found a refuge in the center of the field in sessions 2 and 3. The behavioral analyzes were performed from the observed behaviors in sessions 1 and 4 , showing that learning acts as a mediator in the control and management of processes anxious rats . / Este projeto tem como finalidade desenvolver um estudo exploratório sobre a aprendizagem na mediação das respostas de ansiedade do rato Wistar. Foram utilizados 96 ratos albinos, machos, da raça Wistar, com idades entre 90 e 120 dias, pesando aproximadamente entre 280g e 350g cada um, experimentalmente ingênuos na primeira sessão e privados de água por 48h. Os sujeitos foram subdivididos em 3 grupos de 32 animais: Grupo A: controle; Grupo B: experimental (reforço positivo água); Grupo C: experimental (reforço positivo refúgio). Para o experimento foi utilizado o campo aberto e os animais foram observados de maneira individual, cada sessão teve duração de 10 minutos. O grupo A (controle) não sofreu intervenção. O grupo B encontrou uma trilha de água no campo aberto, nas sessões 2 e 3. O grupo C encontrou um refúgio no centro do campo aberto nas sessões 2 e 3. As análises comportamentais foram realizadas a partir dos comportamentos observados nas sessões 1 e 4, evidenciando que a aprendizagem funciona como elemento mediador no controle e gerenciamento dos processos ansiosos dos ratos.