Effects of environmental enrichment on open-field activity and Hebb-Williams problem solving in rats.

Smith, Howard V.

doi:10.1037/h0032841

Cited by 72 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Environmental enrichment can enhance learning, memory, and improve information processing (Smith, 1972;Gardner et al, 1975;Daniel et al, 1999;Van Praag et al, 1999;Varty et al, 2000;Woodcock & Richardson, 2000). Studies of environmental enrichment have focused on changes in learning and memory, as well as, changes in neuroanatomy or cytoarchitecture of the brain (Hebb, 1947;Rosenzweig, 1966;Rosenzweig, Bennet, & Diamond, 1972;Rosenzweig & Bennet, 1996;Greenough & Jurask, 1979;Hall, 1998;Joseph, 1999;Pham, Ickes, Albeck, Soderstrom, & Mohammed, 1999;Van Praag, Kempermann, & Gage, 1999;Passineau, Green, & Dietrich, 2001).…”

Section: Section I -Introduction Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

"The Behavioral Effects of Environmental Enrichment in Rats"

Tomchesson¹

2004

PsycEXTRA Dataset

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Public reporting burden for the collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to Washington Headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports, 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington VA 22202-4302. Respondents should be aware that notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person shall be subject to a penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information if it does not display a currently valid OMB control number. SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 10. SPONSOR/MONITOR'S ACRONYM(S) SPONSOR/MONITOR'S REPORT NUMBER(S) DISTRIBUTION/AVAILABILITY STATEMENTApproved for public release; distribution unlimited SUPPLEMENTARY NOTESThe original document contains color images. ABSTRACTThe present experiment examined effects of environmental enrichment on behavioral measures of locomotor activity, stress, and health in rats. Six measures (i.e., Open Field, Elevated Plus Maze, Light/Dark Box, Plasma Corticosterone, Food Consumption, and Body Weight) were used to examine the effects of enrichment and stress on 48 male, adolescent Sprague-Dawley rats that were placed in an enriched or non-enriched environment for a total of 24 days. Compared with rats housed in non-enriched environments, rats that were housed in enriched environments: (1) decreased activity and increased habituation in a novel environment; (2) ate less food and had less body weight gain (6% on average). The results regarding stress responses were inconclusive. These findings and future research investigating the effect of environmental enrichment to slow the rate of weight gain are discussed. Compared with rats housed in non-enriched environments, rats that were housed in enriched environments: (1) decreased activity and increased habituation in a novel environment; (2) ate less food and had less body weight gain (6% on average). The results regarding stress responses were inconclusive. These findings and future research investigating the effect of environmental enrichment to slow the rate of weight gain are discussed.iv

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Section: Section I -Introduction Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

"The Behavioral Effects of Environmental Enrichment in Rats"

Tomchesson¹

2004

PsycEXTRA Dataset

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“…Behaviorally, rats reared in enriched environments generally show superior performance, suclh as better problem-solving abilities (Krech, Rosenzweig, and Bennett, 1962;Rosenzweig, 1966), fewer errors on maze tests (Smith, 1972), and faster transfer in complex tasks (Morgan, 1973), than rats reared in impoverished environments. Further, impoverished rats are "more emotionally reactive and more aggressive than enriched ones, take longer to adapt to testing situations, and generally perform rather poorly on learning tasks" (Wallace, 1974, p. 1035).…”

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THE EFFECT OF REARING ENVIRONMENTS ON THE CONTRAFREELOADING PHENOMENON IN RATS¹

Coburn

Tarte

1976

J Exper Analysis Behavior

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Eight naive rats were reared in enriched or impoverished environments for 39 days after weaning and then lived in operant chambers, in which they could obtain food pellets freely or by lever pressing, for 25 or 30 days. The animals raised in an impoverished environment acquired the bar-press response quickly when placed in the operant chambers and maintained a preference for obtaining food via bar pressing. Animals raised in an enriched environment did not learn to lever press, as demonstrated by low levels of responding and the lack of bar pressing when free food was subsequently removed. It was concluded that restricting animals' postweaning environments facilitated learning in a choice situation, probably because of increased activity levels. The results are interpreted in relation to previous studies on rearing environments and on contrafreeloading.

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“…In one group of studies, handling or electric shock administered during the preweaning period have resulted in decreased emotionality and, generally, better adaptation by the organism to environmental demands in later life (Daly, 1973;Denenberg, 1964;Denenberg & Haltmeyer, 1967;Levine, 1969). In the other group of studies, increased complexity of the environment has been shown to produce physiological and anatomical brain changes in rats (Rosenzweig, 1971;Walsh and Cummins, 1975) and to yield significant improvement in problem-solving behavior, (Forgays & Forgays, 1952;Hymovitch, 1952;Ivinskis & Ivinskis, 1976;Morgan, 1973;Nyman, 1967;Schweikart & Collins, 1966;Smith, 1972).…”

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Effects of preweaning environmental enrichment on later problem-solving behavior in rats

Ivinskis

Homewood

1980

Animal Learning & Behavior

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Two experiments investigated the importance of visual sensory modality in mediating enriched environmental effects during the preweaning period, and the importance of onset and duration of the enriched experience during the same period. Rat mothers and pups were exposed together in an enriched environment for either 7 or 11 days at different periods from Day 1 to Day 21. Also included was a group of rats which received only handling from Day 11 to Day 21 postpartum and another group in which the mothers were exposed to the enriched environment during the last trimester of pregnancy. Some rats were tested at 27 days of age, and others were tested at 64 days of age in the Hebb-Williams maze test. It was found that exposure in the enriched environment for a period of 7 days before the eyes opened improved rats' problem-solving behavior above that of control rats and to the level of rats which received such experience after the eyes had opened. Handling of rats did not improve problem-solving behavior, nor did exposure during the gestation period. It was concluded that vision is not the most important factor in mediating effects during the preweaning period, since improvement in problem-solving behavior can occur before the visual system is fully developed. It was suggested that the beneficial enrichment effects might be mediated by the mother, who, in some way, transmits additional stimulation to the infant rat during this early stage of development.

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Effects of environmental enrichment on open-field activity and Hebb-Williams problem solving in rats.

Cited by 72 publications

References 16 publications

"The Behavioral Effects of Environmental Enrichment in Rats"

"The Behavioral Effects of Environmental Enrichment in Rats"

THE EFFECT OF REARING ENVIRONMENTS ON THE CONTRAFREELOADING PHENOMENON IN RATS¹

Effects of preweaning environmental enrichment on later problem-solving behavior in rats

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Effects of environmental enrichment on open-field activity and Hebb-Williams problem solving in rats.

Cited by 72 publications

References 16 publications

"The Behavioral Effects of Environmental Enrichment in Rats"

"The Behavioral Effects of Environmental Enrichment in Rats"

THE EFFECT OF REARING ENVIRONMENTS ON THE CONTRAFREELOADING PHENOMENON IN RATS1

Effects of preweaning environmental enrichment on later problem-solving behavior in rats

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THE EFFECT OF REARING ENVIRONMENTS ON THE CONTRAFREELOADING PHENOMENON IN RATS¹