microbiology lab report
Habituation of Exploratory Behavior in Rats Regarding Spatial Rearrangement of Familiar Objects in an Open Field
Habituation of Exploratory Behavior in Rats Regarding Spatial Rearrangement of Familiar Objects in an Open Field
Habituation is Although it might seem obvious that rats would habituate to an unfamiliar environment after repeated exposure, it is not as obvious how behavior would change as a result of new stimuli within that familiar environment. When a rat becomes more familiar with its environment, exploratory behavior decreases as a function of time spent within the new area. We are interested in the renewal of exploration following rearrangement of objects within the open field apparatus used as the initial novel surroundings for the rats. The results were expected to be similar to those found in similar studies done by Poucet et. al (1986) who investigated exploratory behavior as an index of special knowledge in hamsters. It was expected that through exploration, the contact time with objects in the open field and the number of contacts would increase when new objects were introduced. The importance of building a spatial map was clear when they observed greater exploration in animals that had displace objects. Thus we expected that if the rats became habituated to their environment and the spatial arrangement of the objects within it would change, then the rats would exhibit an increased amount of exploratory behavior during that trial.
Methods:
Subjects
The subjects were adult male Sprague Dawley rats. Six sextions of four rats per group were maintained on a 12/12 light/dark cycle and housed individually with unlimited access to food and water ad libitum.
Materials
The Subjects were tested in an open field container. It consisted of a 4’ x 4‘ plexiglass field, surrounded by 16” tall plexiglass walls. The field
Habituation of Exploratory Behavior in Rats Regarding Spatial Rearrangement of Familiar Objects in an Open Field
Habituation is Although it might seem obvious that rats would habituate to an unfamiliar environment after repeated exposure, it is not as obvious how behavior would change as a result of new stimuli within that familiar environment. When a rat becomes more familiar with its environment, exploratory behavior decreases as a function of time spent within the new area. We are interested in the renewal of exploration following rearrangement of objects within the open field apparatus used as the initial novel surroundings for the rats. The results were expected to be similar to those found in similar studies done by Poucet et. al (1986) who investigated exploratory behavior as an index of special knowledge in hamsters. It was expected that through exploration, the contact time with objects in the open field and the number of contacts would increase when new objects were introduced. The importance of building a spatial map was clear when they observed greater exploration in animals that had displace objects. Thus we expected that if the rats became habituated to their environment and the spatial arrangement of the objects within it would change, then the rats would exhibit an increased amount of exploratory behavior during that trial.
Methods:
Subjects
The subjects were adult male Sprague Dawley rats. Six sextions of four rats per group were maintained on a 12/12 light/dark cycle and housed individually with unlimited access to food and water ad libitum.
Materials
The Subjects were tested in an open field container. It consisted of a 4’ x 4‘ plexiglass field, surrounded by 16” tall plexiglass walls. The field