The effects of isolation-rearing on preference by rats for a novel environment

In the previous paper isolation-reared rats exhibited enhanced environmental neophobia under some conditions in an open-field. However, previous work has shown that isolation-reared rats have greater preferences for a novel environment in a dimly lit enclosed box. The hypothesis examined in the present experiments was that manipulation of the intrinsic aversive qualities of such an environment, by altering lighting conditions, could reverse the preference which isolation-reared rats exhibit for a novel chamber. When preference for a novel chamber was examined in a non-aversive environment in Experiment 1, isolation-reared rats exhibited a preference for a novel environment which was enhanced compared to social controls. When tested under more aversive white light conditions in Experiment 2, no differences in novelty preference were observed between isolation-reared and socially reared rats. Thus, the increased sensitivity to novel environments by isolation-reared rats appears to be critically dependent on the arousing or aversive properties of the resting conditions. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Inc.