Powell S B, Newman H A, McDonald T A, Bugenhagen P, Lewis M H
Department of Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610, USA.
Dev Psychobiol. 2000 Sep;37(2):100-8.
Abnormal repetitive behaviors such as stereotypies are associated with neurodevelopmental disorders and are often observed under conditions of environmental restriction, particularly early in development. Few studies, however, have systematically assessed the effects of environmental enrichment and almost no information is available as to whether a sensitive period exists for such enrichment effects. We hypothesized that spontaneous stereotypies exhibited by deer mice housed under standard laboratory conditions were the result of environmental restriction and that a sensitive period exists for the development/prevention of stereotypies. Exposure to a more complex environment early in the post-weaning period resulted in substantially less stereotypy in the complex environment. Importantly, this outcome was maintained even after mice were housed in standard cages for an identical period of time. Later exposure to the more complex environment also resulted in significantly lower levels of stereotypy compared to controls. These effects were observed in the experimental housing condition as well as in a standard test context. The effects of early and late enrichment support the importance of environmental restriction in the genesis of stereotype and provide support for the efficacy of early and late enrichment in the prevention of stereotypies.
异常重复行为，如刻板动作，与神经发育障碍有关，并且常在环境受限的条件下出现，尤其是在发育早期。然而，很少有研究系统地评估环境丰富化的影响，而且几乎没有关于这种丰富化效应是否存在敏感期的信息。我们推测，在标准实验室条件下饲养的鹿鼠表现出的自发刻板动作是环境受限的结果，并且刻板动作的发展/预防存在敏感期。断奶后早期暴露于更复杂的环境中，在复杂环境中刻板动作明显减少。重要的是，即使在小鼠在标准笼子中饲养相同时间后，这一结果仍得以维持。与对照组相比，后期暴露于更复杂的环境中也导致刻板动作水平显著降低。这些效应在实验饲养条件以及标准测试环境中均被观察到。早期和晚期丰富化的效应支持了环境受限在刻板动作发生中的重要性，并为早期和晚期丰富化在预防刻板动作方面的有效性提供了支持。
