Animal and Poultry Science, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 2W1, Canada.
Behav Brain Res. 2011 Oct 10;224(1):207-12. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2011.06.003. Epub 2011 Jun 13.
Environmental enrichment typically improves learning, increases cortical thickness and hippocampal neurogenesis, reduces anxiety, and reduces stereotypic behaviour, yet sometimes such effects are absent or even reversed. We investigated whether neophobia governs how mice interact with enrichments, since this could explain why enrichments vary in impact. Female C57BL/6 mice, previously screened for neophobia, had free access to enriched cages connected to their standard cages. The relative consumption of food in each cage revealed approximate dwelling times; the use of two enrichments was also measured. High neophobia significantly predicted reduced use of the enriched cage. Thus even within this homogeneous population, provided with identical enrichments, differential neophobia predicted differential enrichment use.
环境丰富通常可以改善学习，增加皮质厚度和海马神经发生，减少焦虑，减少刻板行为，但有时这些效果不存在，甚至相反。我们研究了是否恐惧支配着老鼠与丰富环境的相互作用，因为这可以解释为什么丰富环境的影响不同。先前经过恐惧筛选的雌性 C57BL/6 小鼠可以自由进入与其标准笼相连的丰富笼。每个笼子中食物的相对消耗显示了大致的居住时间；还测量了两种丰富环境的使用情况。高恐惧显著预测了丰富笼的使用减少。因此，即使在这个同质的群体中，提供相同的丰富环境，不同的恐惧也预测了不同的丰富环境的使用。
