The effects of enrichment on cognition in rats Rattus norvegicus
Item
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Title
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The effects of enrichment on cognition in rats Rattus norvegicus
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Identifier
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d_2009_2013:0b4b2400c6f1:10138
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identifier
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10437
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Creator
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Alliger, Amber,
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Contributor
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Peter Moller
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Date
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2009
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Behavioral psychology | Psychobiology | Cognitive task | Control | Corticosterone | Enrichment | Rat | Welfare
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Abstract
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Animal models play an integral role in pharmaceutical research when developing drugs for human use. It is therefore imperative that animal models accurately represent human systems. In an attempt to reduce variability of test results, animals are often kept in barren, non-natural conditions. There is, however, a growing awareness that environmental enrichment will increase the validity of test results. The aim of the present study was to allow animals to control their environment using operant conditioning procedures, and to assess the effect of control on cognitive tasks. Four predictions were tested: (1) Rats (Rattus norvegicus) will control three stimuli (light, sound and a running wheel). (2) Animals will exhibit preferences for particular stimulus strengths. (3) Animals that exert control over the environmental stimuli will show increased performance in cognitive tasks compared to animals that lack control. (4) Animals that can control environmental stimuli will have lower corticosterone levels than animals that lack such control, where corticosterone levels are used as an assessment of stress. Experimental subjects in both experiments did show control over a light stimulus, and performed significantly better in a discrimination task as compared with subjects that could not control their environment. There was no difference in corticosterone levels between control and experimental subjects. These results will contribute to an understanding how enrichment and control of environmental stimuli, in particular, affect the welfare of animals in captive environments, and aid in designing experimental conditions that will produce animal models that will increase validity and reliability in research.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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2009_2013.csv
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Psychology
