The effects of isolation-rearing on preference by rats for a novel environment

Hall, F. S., Humby, Trevor ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1840-1799, Wilkinson, Lawrence Stephen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9337-6124 and Robbins, T. W. 1997. The effects of isolation-rearing on preference by rats for a novel environment. Physiology & Behavior 62 (2) , pp. 299-303. 10.1016/S0031-9384(97)00117-0

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Abstract

Hall, F. S., T. Humby, L. S. Wilkinson and T. W. Robbins. The effects of isolation-rearing on preference by rats for a novel environment. Physiol Behav 62(2):299–303, 1997.—In the previous paper isolation-reared rats exhibited enhanced environmental neophobia under some conditions in an open-field. However, previous work has shown that isolation-reared rats have greater preferences for a novel environment in a dimly lit enclosed box. The hypothesis examined in the present experiments was that manipulation of the intrinsic aversive qualities of such an environment, by altering lighting conditions, could reverse the preference which isolation-reared rats exhibit for a novel chamber. When preference for a novel chamber was examined in a non-aversive environment in Experiment 1, isolation-reared rats exhibited a preference for a novel environment which was enhanced compared to social controls. When tested under more aversive white light conditions in Experiment 2, no differences in novelty preference were observed between isolation-reared and socially reared rats. Thus, the increased sensitivity to novel environments by isolation-reared rats appears to be critically dependent on the arousing or aversive properties of the testing conditions.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Psychology Medicine MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics (CNGG) Neuroscience and Mental Health Research Institute (NMHRI)
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC0321 Neuroscience. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Isolation-rearing; Novelty Preference; Arousal
Publisher:	Elsevier
ISSN:	0031-9384
Last Modified:	21 Oct 2022 09:07
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/35363

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