Effects of situational complexity and repeated testing on rats' behaviour in a light-dark preference situation

The hypothessis was tested that rats' initial activity in a novel situation represents escape tendencies rather than exploratory behaviour. 30 male albino rats were handled when 90 days old, another 30 rats remained undisturbed. All the animals got 7 trials in a light-dark preference situation. For half of the animals the lighted part contained additional stimuli. Although activity was high, rats did not investigate these stimuli in the first trials. This result seems to favour the escape hypothesis.