[Role of the orienting and defensive components in the "open field" behavior of white rats].

Stress effects (of bright light, sound) on the behaviour in the "open field" were studied on male albino rats. It was shown that distribution of motor and vertical activity is close to normal whereas distribution of the number of groomings and defecations considerably differs from it. In a "stressless" situation as compared to a "stressful" one there is an increase in motor and vertical activity and the number of groomings along with a considerable decrease in the number of defecations. In estimating correlation coefficients in pairs between animal's weight and behavioural reaction parameters, the absence of correlation between motor activity and the number of defecations was observed.