The purpose of the present experiments was to determine whether a change in skin conductance is a reliable component of the fear pattern in the mouse. In these experiments, the sight of E was employed as an aversive stimulus. SC and defecation increased and activity decreased when the stimulus was presented. The SC and defecation responses tended to adapt with repeated testing. Decreases in activity on Day 1 were replaced by increases on subsequent days. Early handling severely attenuated the SC, defecation and freezing responses that would be normally seen on the first day of testing. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

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.

It is well established that aging is associated with numerous health concerns, including poor balance. Deteriorations in attention demand also place older adults at a greater risk for falls. Emerging experiments have explored the impact of dual-task training programs and have improved dual-tasking in older adults. However, it is unknown whether these performance-related improvements are a function of the intervention itself or the repeated exposure to the testing protocol. Study 1 explored the implications of repeated administration, once per week for 5 weeks, of a protocol involving standing postural sway while concurrently performing reaction time (RT) tasks in older adults. Results revealed that postural sway was stable across testing sessions whereas the difficult RT task gradually improved over time. Study 2 examined the influence of repeated exposure, once per week for 5 weeks, of a protocol involving negotiating a series of obstacles while performing RT tasks in older adults. Participants walked significantly faster with repeated exposure and gradually improved RT. Study 3 investigated the impact of repeated exposure, once per week for 5 weeks, to three functional mobility measures in older adults. It also examined the influence of a 12-week balance and mobility training (BMT) program as well as a 12-week balance and mobility plus cognitive training (BMT+C) program on functional mobility in older adults. Functional mobility served to be stable over time. Both the BMT and BMT+C groups significantly improved functional mobility and sustained these improvements at the 12-week follow-up, while no changes were observed in the control group. No differences between the BMT and BMT+C groups emerged. Experiment 4 examined the influence of BMT and BMT+C on postural sway and RT in older adults. Participants in both training groups significantly improved RT and sustained these improvements at the follow-up, while no changes were observed in the control group. No changes to postural control were shown in any group. No differences between the BMT and BMT+C groups emerged. Experiment 5 examined the influence of BMT and BMT+C on negotiating a series of obstacles while performing RT tasks in older adults. Both the BMT and BMT+C groups significantly improved RT and sustained these improvements at the follow-up, while no changes were observed in the control group. All groups showed faster time to completion of the obstacle series. No differences between the BMT and BMT+C groups emerged. Collectively, these findings suggest that BMT and BMT+C significantly improve functional mobility and divided attention, and sustain these improvements over time. Although some improvements were observed after repeated exposure over 5 weeks, no changes in the control group were observed. Therefore, the improvements exhibited from BMT and BMT+C are likely not a function of repeated exposure to the testing protocol, as participants may be more susceptible to performance-related improvements when the testing sessions are close in proximity. Altogether, these findings propose that, whether or not cognitive training is included, attention demanding dual-task training not only improves functional mobility and RT, but also sustains these improvements over time in older adults. These results may be used to improve the prescription of exercise in older adults.

Using orthogonal subtractions of performance in selected conditions the attentional network test (ANT) measures the efficacy of three isolable components of attention: alerting, orienting, and executive control. This dissertation evaluated: 1) the relationship between these attention networks and absentmindedness measured by the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire (CFQ) and 2) stability, isolability, robustness, and reliability of the two versions of the ANT (Fan et al., 2002 and Callejas et al., 2005) with young adults and older adults and of the child version of the ANT (Rueda et al., 2004) with young children when tested over 10 sessions. A greater degree of absentmindedness as measured with CFQ was associated with a greater alerting network score in RT and with a greater orienting network scores in error rate when the ANT-I was used. However, a greater degree of absentmindedness was associated with a smaller orienting network score in error rate when the ANT was used. These results suggest that the alerting and the orienting networks are related to absentmindedness. However, the orienting networks in the two ANTs were related to absentmindedness differently which supports the proposal (Klein, 2009) that there are fundamental differences between attention when controlled endogenously (ANT) as opposed to exogenously (ANT-I). For young adults and older adults, all network scores in RT remained robust even after nine previous sessions despite some practice effects especially in the executive network both with the ANT and the ANT-I. There was some evidence that the networks do not operate independently in all situations. As expected, reliability increased as more data are added. For young children, only the alerting network scores remained robust over time. Learning effects were observed only with the executive network. The reliability was poor even when more data were added. This made it difficult to assess the isolability of the network scores. The ANT and the ANT-I were associated to the CFQ scores in a limited way. The ANT and the ANT-I can be used for applications requiring repeated testing, but the child ANT may not be suitable for such purpose. / This is a thesis that is manuscript-based.