Researchers at the University of Richmond in the United
States taught 17 lab rats to drive little plastic cars as part of a scientific
inquiry into mental disorders.
The study, which was published in the journal Behavioural
Brain Research, saw the scientists offer their specimen cereals in exchange for
learning to drive and found that they felt less stressed by doing so.
They used a tiny electric car made by attaching a clear
plastic jar to an aluminum plate fitted to a set of wheels and taught the rats
to touch a copper wire threaded horizontally across the jar in order to move in
the desired direction where the cereals were located.
Following months of repeating the process, the rats got to
learn not only how to make the mobile move but also how to change direction.
As the rats were raised in two different environments — a
lab and what the research team termed an “enriched environment” — those raised
in the latter became significantly better drivers than those of the former.
After testing both groups’ feaces, the team also found that
the rats had higher levels of dehydroepiandrosterone, an anti-stress hormone,
which the scientists believe is linked to the satisfaction derived from having
learned a new skill.
Kelly Lambert, the lead author of the study, said its
findings could aid medical professionals with the development of
non-pharmaceutical treatments for mental illness.
“There’s no cure for schizophrenia or depression, and we
need to catch up, I think we need to look at different animal models and
different types of tasks and really respect that behaviour can change our
neurochemistry,” she said, while speaking on the study’s relevance.
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