The effect of early experience on water maze spatial learning and memory in rats

Abstract

In the first of two experiments on spatial competence, groups of light-reared (LR) and dark-reared (DR) rats were compared using a "latent learning" variation of the Morris Water Maze task. On their initial test, the LR rats benefited more than DR rats did from viewing the room/pool from a platform in the correct location. Further, visually experienced rats remember the location of the platform more than DR rats when retested one month later. In a second experiment, in which a proximal cue as well as location was varied from trial to trial. LR rats again proved to be more competent than their DR counterparts. This second task also revealed significant benefits related to stimulation history in the case of a third group of animals raised in enriched or complex environment (CR) conditions. The results are discussed in terms of the nature of the impact of early experience on the ability to acquire and remember spatial concepts.

Is there a geometric module for spatial orientation? squaring theory and evidence

“…Rearing lab animals in different controlled environments (e.g., circular ones), testing the few nomadic humans who do not live indoors, and experimenting on animals caught in the wild are all relevant in this regard. Prior researchers have not examined these specific hypotheses, but the importance of such investigation is demonstrated by the fact that experience affects spatial learning in a more general way; for example, rats reared in the dark perform less well than light-reared animals in the Morris swimming pool (Tees, Buhrmann, & Hanley, 1990).…”

Role of an enriched environment on the restoration of behavioral deficits in Lurcher mutant mice

“…Rhesus monkeys reared in isolation do not take care of their infants and are likely to be more aggressive (Harlow & Harlow, 1962a, 1962b. Conversely, rearing in enriched environments increases the behavioral capabilities of the animals (Hard & Larsson, 1975), as demonstrated by learning tests (Hebb, 1949;Tees, Buhrmann, & Hanley, 1990), and enhances their willingness to consume novel substances (Hennessy, Smotherman, & Levine, 1977).…”

The influences of sex, rearing environment, and neonatal choline dietary supplementation on spatial and nonspatial learning and memory in adult rats

“…The emergence of the ability to learn and remember distal-cue-based place information is also dependent on a variety of early experiences with signals from different modalities (e.g., Tees, 1990;Tees, Buhrmann, & Hanley, 1990). Animals exposed to an enriched or complex environment (EC) exhibit superior performance in learning and remembering place(s) in a variety of land-and water-based mazes compared with controls raised in standard laboratory cages in social (SC) groups (e.g., Greenough, Madden, & Fleischmann, 1972;Juraska, 1990;Seymoure, Dou, & Juraska, 1996;Tees et al, 1990).…”

“…Animals exposed to an enriched or complex environment (EC) exhibit superior performance in learning and remembering place(s) in a variety of land-and water-based mazes compared with controls raised in standard laboratory cages in social (SC) groups (e.g., Greenough, Madden, & Fleischmann, 1972;Juraska, 1990;Seymoure, Dou, & Juraska, 1996;Tees et al, 1990). A lack of an early visual stimulation history has also been shown to adversely affect adult spatial working and reference memory in later tested (blind and sighted) rats (e.g., Tees, Midgley, & Nesbit, 1981).…”