The first one seems to say that it exists naturaly in rats. I suppose its not allways called autism in rats because the symptoms differ bacause there behaivour naturaly differs from humans if you know what i mean?!
Gibson, Evelyn; Reed, Phil. Journal of Autism & Developmental Disorders, Dec2005, Vol. 35 Issue 6, p851-859, 9p, 2 charts, 4 graphs; DOI: 10.1007/s10803-005-0030-9; (AN 20528554)
The present study explored whether a similar phenomenon to stimulus over-selectivity occurred in rats, in the hope of establishing a non-human model for the autism. Rats were serially presented with two-15 seconds, two-element compound stimuli prior to the delivery of food, in an appetitive classical conditioning procedure. Each compound stimulus consisted of two lights. Once the rats had acquired a conditioned response (CR) to the stimuli, they were presented with each of the component elements separately in extinction. The rats demonstrated greater conditioning to components of the compound presented just prior to reinforcement than to the components of the temporally distant compound. However, there was a smaller difference between CRs to the components of the compound presented just prior to reinforcement (i.e. less overshadowing) than between the components of the temporally distant compound. It is suggested that rats demonstrated a form of stimulus over-selectivity, resulting in greater overshadowing of one cue by another. Such results may form the basis of a viable non-human model of this symptom of autistic spectrum disorder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Rodier, Patricia M.. Mental Retardation & Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews, 1996, Vol. 2 Issue 4, p249-256, 8p; (AN 12389092)
Animal models of human brain damage syndromes range form ones that are purely theoretical to ones that attempt to duplicate a human syndrome at every level. The similarity between animal and human cases in experimental manipulation, CNS alteration, and tests of parallelism is sometimes restricted by the extent to which experimental species match humans in their basic biology. However, the information available from the human condition is often the most important limiting factor in the degree to which similarities can be achieved. The recent discovery of a high rate of autism in patients exposed to thalidomide around the time of neural tube closure suggest an appropriate experimental manipulation for an animal model of the disease. Rats exposed to valproic acid at the same stage of development mimic the thalidomide cases apparent injuries to the brain stem. Whether the behavior of these brain-damaged animals is similar to that observed in autism is difficult to determine, because the diagnostic behavioral features of the disease are not easily translated into animal tasks. However, anatomical observations in human cases provide tests of parallelism that can be applied to animals, and these appear to be positive in the animal model. The development of behavioral tests that discriminate autistic from that of other brain damage syndromes may require further research in both humans and animals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Cant link to the full text cus it needs my uni login
