Studies of activity. I. Consistency of the revolving drum method of measuring the activity of the rat.

Abstract

When rats which had been community fed were put in revolving cages and fed individually discrepancies in weight among animals of the same age tended to disappear. Slight variation in temp. seemed to have little influence on activity. Although fairly large fluctuations in activity occurred from day to day, even when the average of the group was considered, correlations showed that the animals consistently held their places within the group. The method of a "split-control" period proved more reliable than the method of control groups of animals, and was adopted for further study of activity.