Differential effects of social and novelty enrichment on individual differences in impulsivity and behavioral flexibility.

ABSTRACT: Early life experience profoundly impacts behavior and cognitive functions in rats. The present study investigated how the presence of conspecifics and/or novel objects, could independently influence individual differences in impulsivity and behavioral flexibility. Twenty-four rats were reared in an isolated condition, an isolated condition with a novel object, a pair-housed social condition, or a pair-housed social condition with a novel object. The rats were then tested on an impulsive choice task, a behavioral flexibility task, and an impulsive action task. Novelty enrichment produced an overall increase in impulsive choice, while social enrichment decreased impulsive choice in the absence of novelty enrichment and also produced an overall increase in impulsive action. In the behavioral

SUBMITTER: Wang MZ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5473952 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature