Scientists at the University of Richmond are giving new meaning to “rat race.”
Kelly Lambert, a professor of behavioral neuroscience at the Virginia institute, taught rodents how to drive.
We already know rats are capable of recognizing objects, pressing bars, and navigating mazes. But those tricks are only a fraction of what the long-tailed vermin can achieve.
To test this theory, Lambert & Co. built a tiny car out of a plastic food container with aluminum flooring and an electrical circuit. Touching the left, right, or center copper bar of the steering wheel turned the vehicle in different directions.
Six female and 11 male rats were trained in rectangular arenas up to 43 square feet, as reported by New Scientist; the critters were rewarded with Froot Loop cereal pieces every time they managed to drive the car forward.
Bits of sugary breakfast were also placed at increasingly distant points in the arena to encourage advanced driving skills.
“[The rats] learned to navigate the car in unique ways and engaged in steering patterns they had never used to eventually arrive at the reward,” Lambert told New Scientist.
Well, some of the rats, anyway.
According to Lambert, rodents housed in a “complex, enriched environment” (i.e. with interesting objects to interact with) learned the driving task. Those living in standard laboratory cages “had problems learning the task.” In other words, they failed their driving test.
“That means the complex environment led to more behavioral flexibility and neuroplasticity,” Lambert said in a statement.
Scientists have trained rats to drive tiny cars to collect food (via University of Richmond)
The new skill also seemed to relax the animals: The ratio of hormones dehydroepiandrosterone (which counteracts stress) to corticosterone (a marker of stress) in the rats’ feces increased over the course of their training.
These results are in line with Lambert’s previous work showing that rats become less anxious after mastering difficult tasks. They may get the same rush of satisfaction as humans do when perfecting a new skill.
Complex driving tasks could be used to help study neuropsychiatric conditions, including the effects of Parkinson’s disease or depression.
The full study was published recently in the journal Behavioural Brain Research.
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