Behavioural responses to stress in animals
Behavioural response to stress can be transmitted from parents to offspring. When an offspring observes the expression of behaviour such as fear in response to a stress stimulus, the same response would be elicited in the offspring when the stimulus is presented. Using Rodent model, Debeik and associates illustrated that fear is transferred from mother to infant in response to a certain odour stimulus. They further proved that the neural activity, such as the basal amygdala activity of the offspring’s brain, illustrated fear response. Therefore, parents’ behavioural response to stress can be transgenerational and can be proven via neural activity.