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

Abstract

Conducted an experiment with 24 male and 24 female Carworth Europe rats to test the effects of sex, preweaning experience (enrichment vs. restriction), postweaning experience (enrichment vs. restriction), and test order on: (a) activity and defecation in the open field; and (b) Hebb-Williams maze test errors (see record). Postweaning restriction increased both activity and error scores, while preweaning restriction increased activity but had no effect on error scores. There was no correlation between scores on the 2 variables when the enriched and restricted postweaning-Ss were considered separately. It is concluded that errors in the maze are not the result of exploration, but that the test scores are more likely to be a valid measure of problem-solving ability. (19 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)