The effects of hunger and familiarity of locale on exploration.

Abstract

Hungry rats would leave a familiar box to explore an unfamiliar box more readily than would sated animals, and would explore more thoroughly and for a longer time. No differences were obtained with control groups for whom both boxes were new, although the sated group groomed significantly more. It is concluded that hunger increases exploratory activity "in the sense that hungry animals are more apt than sated ones to leave a familiar foodless territory.".