Motivation is a powerful thing. Scientists from the University of Richmond have successfully taught rats how to drive custom-built rodent cars by motivating them with a delicious prize if they pass their driving test. The findings reveal that rats possess a more exceptional ability to learn tasks and their brains are more flexible than previously thought. Exploring how rats perform complex tasks could help scientists find treatments for a range of mental health conditions, including anxiety, depression, and cognitive impairments.
Kelly Lambert, Professor of Behavioral Neuroscience, is the leader in this experiment. Lambert and her colleagues made a miniature car out of a clear plastic food container and remodeled it with an aluminum floor, wheels, and a steering wheel made out of three copper bars. The copper and aluminum create an electrical current that propels the car forward. When the rats are properly trained, they can control the direction of the vehicle by using their paws to grip left, middle, or right.
Lambert said:
We already knew that rodents could recognize objects, press bars, and find their way around mazes, but we wondered if rats could learn the more complex task of operating a moving vehicle.
The scientists trained 17 rats to drive. Every time the rats touched and moved the plastic car forward, they were rewarding with Froot Loops. The team built a four square-meter rectangular box for the rats to drive in where they could fine-tune their driving as the scientists kept giving the successful drivers fruit loops. “They learned to navigate the car in unique ways and engaged in steering patterns they had never used to eventually arrive at the reward,” explained Lambert.
However, not all of the rats passed their driving test. The researchers found that the type of environment the rats lived in affected the way they learned. For example, rats that lived in a stimulating and exciting environment learned how to drive fast while those living in standard boring laboratory cages had difficulties learning the task. “That means the complex living environment led to more behavioral flexibility and neuroplasticity,” Lambert said.
The research could be used to understand if the challenge of learning new skills may ultimately reduce tension. Learning new skills may reduce stress in the animals because they build a sense of control over their environment. These findings could shed some light on relieving stress in humans which could prevent many visits to the doctor. Many psychiatric illnesses, including depression and various anxiety disorders, are exacerbated by stress. Therefore, anything that relieves that strain provides a buffer against the onset of mental illness.
In the experiment, the rats that were involved with the driving training had healthier stress hormone levels than they had before their training. Two hormones were measured: corticosterone, the stress marker, and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), which counteracts stress. Throughout the rats’ driving training, the amount of DHEA in their poop had increased.
The team is now planning follow-up experiments to understand how the brain changes to accommodate driving skills. Lambert believes the tests could be made more complex and could provide enough data to potentially help study the effects of Parkinson’s disease and depression.
Lambert said:
I do believe that rats are smarter than most people perceive them to be and that most animals are smarter in unique ways than we think.
Lambert and her colleagues published the research in the journal Behavioural Brain Research, titled Enriched Environment Exposure Accelerates Rodent Driving Skills.
Check out the rats driving in the video below.
