Welcome to the home page for the Behavioral Neuroscience Laboratory at Gettysburg College. Located on the 3rd floor of the Science Center, our laboratory provides a wide range of research opportunities for students who want to study the brain mechanisms of behavior. Although the primary focus of the lab is to study the neurobiology of play behavior in rats (as shown in the photos to the right), we also dabble into other areas of research as well and work to provide students with opportunities to become actively involved in this research program.

People Facilities Current Projects Lab Publications

People in the lab

E-mail: harrke04@gettysburg.edu

Kelly Harrison

E-mail: ssiviy@gettysburg.edu

Steve Siviy

	Steve has been at Gettysburg College since 1990 and is an Associate Professor of Psychology and Co-Coordinator of the Neuroscience minor.
		Kelly is a senior Psychology/Spanish double major and has been working in the lab somewhat continuously since her first semester at Gettysburg. She spent the past summer as a Shand Research Fellow and will be conducting Honors Research this coming spring.

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Facilities

The Behavioral Neuroscience Laboratory is located in the Animal Suite Area on the 3rd floor of the Science Center. In addition to housing both rats and mice, this area contains 3 rooms for conducting behavioral experiments, a “wet lab” with equipment and supplies to support this research, and a dedicated small animal surgery suite.

Assessment of play behavior

By videotaping pairs of rats in a tightly controlled environment and using Noldus Observer software to code behavior, we can evaluate the effects of various types of manipulations on play behavior.

Acoustic startle response and pre-pulse inhibition

Partially funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation, this equipment allows us to assess startle responses in rats and to also evaluate pre-pulse inhibition of the acoustic startle response. This equipment has been used extensively in student-originated projects.

Video-tracking of behavior using Ethovision

Also partially funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation, this system can track one or two rats in an open field. It’s currently being used in classes to objectively monitor social interactions between two rats and in a novel object discrimination task.

Locomotor activity and exploration

Four Med Associates activity chambers use infrared sensors to monitor various aspects of locomotor activity in rats. Placing a hole-board insert into the testing chambers also allows for a measure of exploration.

Small animal surgery

This facility allows us to perform stereotaxic surgery in rodents. We are currently set up to produce excitoxic and neurotoxic lesions to specific nuclei in the brain, aspirative removal of cortical areas, and implantation of permanently indwelling cannulae into specific brain sites.

Main research lab with histology facilities

This space provides all of the basic support functions needed for doing our research. Included in this space is a Mettler Analytical balance, a Leica cryostat, Nikon microscope, and lots of other assorted gizmos and gadgets.

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Current Projects

	Psychopharmacology of play behavior

This has been a constant focus of the lab for some time. Some of the neurochemical systems that we’ve looked at over the years include dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin, glutamate, cannabinoids, and opioids.

Effects of fear and anxiety on play

This project developed out of collaborative work done in Iain McGregor’s lab at the University of Sydney during a recent sabbatical leave. Using predatory odors to induce fear and anxiety in rats, we’ve been looking at how these extreme emotional states can affect playfulness.

Mapping a neural circuitry for mammalian playfulness
	Allowing rats to play under different circumstances and using c-fos immunohistochemistry to identify recently activated cells, we are hoping to map out a neural circuit for play in the rat.

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Lab Publications

Siviy, S.M., Love, N.J., DeCicco, B.M., Giordano, S.B., & Seifert, T.L. (2003). The relative playfulness

of juvenile Lewis and Fischer-34 rats. Physiology and Behavior, 80, 385-394.

Muschamp, J.W., & Siviy, S.M. (2002). Behavioral sensitization to amphetamine follows chronic

administration of the CB₁ agonist WIN 55,212 in Lewis rats. Pharmacology, Biochemistry

and Behavior, 73, 835-842.

Arnold, J.L., & Siviy, S.M. (2002). The effects of neonatal handling and maternal separation on

rough-and-tumble play in the rat. Developmental Psychobiology, 41, 205-215.

Siviy, S.M, & Baliko, C.N. (2000). A further characterization of alpha-2 adrenoceptor involvement

in the rough-and-tumble play of juvenile rats. Developmental Psychobiology, 37, 25-34.

Siviy, S.M., Fleischhauer, A.E., Kerrigan, L.A., & Kuhlman, S.J. (1996). D₂ dopamine receptor

involvement in the rough-and-tumble play behavior of juvenile rats. Behavioral Neuroscience, 110,

1168-1176.

Siviy, S.M., Baliko, C.N., & Bowers, K.S. (1996). Rough-and-tumble play behavior in Fischer-344

and Buffalo rats: Effects of social isolation. Physiology and Behavior, 61, 597-602.

Siviy, S.M., Line, B.S., & Darcy, E.A. (1995). The effects of MK-801 on rough-and-tumble play in

juvenile rats. Physiology and Behavior, 57, 843-847.

Siviy, S.M., Fleischhauer, A.E., Kuhlman, S.J., & Atrens, D.M. (1994). Effects of alpha-2 adrenoceptor

antagonists on rough-and-tumble play in juvenile rats: Evidence for a site of action independent of

non-adrenoceptor imidazoline binding sites. Psychopharmacology, 113, 493-499.

Panksepp, J., Nelson, E., & Siviy, S.M. (1994). Brain opioids and mother-infant social motivation.

Acta Paediatrica, 397 (Supplement), 40-46.

Siviy, S.M., & Atrens, D.M. (1992). The energetic costs of rough-and-tumble play in the juvenile rat.

Developmental Psychobiology, 25, 137-148.

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