Shair and Jasper (A-9) investigated whether decreasing the venous return in young rats would affect ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs). Their research showed no significant change in the number of ultrasonic vocalizations when blood was removed from either the superior vena cava or the carotid artery. Another important variable measured was the heart rate (bmp) during the withdrawal of blood.

The table below presents the heart rate of seven rat pups from the experiment involving the carotid artery.

500 570 560 570 450 560 570 Source: Harry N. Shair and Anna Jasper, “Decreased Venous Return Is Neither Sufficient nor Necessary to Elicit Ultrasonic Vocalization of Infant Rat Pups,” Behavioral Neuroscience, 117 (2003), 840–853.