Stereotypies in caged parrots, schizophrenia and autism: Evidence for a common mechanism (2003)

Garner, J. P., Meehan, C. L., Mench , J. A.

Abstract

These results parallel the executive motor impairments seen in human patients, and therefore suggest that, like in human patients, stereotypy in caged parrots reflects a general disinhibition of the behavioral control mechanisms of the dorsal basal ganglia. If this result holds true in other laboratory species, stereotypic animals are likely to be of questionable utility in behavior, neuroscience, and neuropharmacological experiments. .. As stereotypies in captive animals develop in response to the captive environment, these results also emphasize the role that the environment may play in eliciting or exacerbating stereotypy in human patients. Finally, by parallel to human patients, there is a potential psychological distress in animals showing these behaviors.