And if you think that lab rats are having all the fun, driving around for sweet treats and getting caned off their tits, maybe they deserve a break.
“In a study that wouldn’t be permitted today, [neuroscientist Curt Richter] made rats swim in glass cylinders filled with water, eventually drowning from exhaustion if they weren’t rescued,” Lambert continued.
“Lab rats frequently handled by humans swam for hours to days. Wild rats gave up after just a few minutes. If the wild rats were briefly rescued, however, their survival time extended dramatically, sometimes by days. It seemed that being rescued gave the rats hope and spurred them on.”
Basically, positivity and sociability seems to propagate hope, which in turn is good for the brain.
It’s possible that I might be overextending the lesson here, but it seems worth remembering by anyone who spends too many hours on X.
Back to driving, though, and what rats think of the thrill of the open road. “While we can’t directly ask rats whether they like to drive, we devised a behavioural test to assess their motivation to drive,” Lambert reported.
“This time, instead of only giving rats the option of driving to the Froot Loop Tree, they could also make a shorter journey on foot – or paw, in this case.
“Surprisingly, two of the three rats chose to take the less efficient path of turning away from the reward and running to the car to drive to their Froot Loop destination.
“This response suggests that the rats enjoy both the journey and the rewarding destination.”
For every dismal journey in dawdling traffic, then, I shall try to remember to take a weekend jaunt to somewhere like Caffeine & Machine, which might be just the thing to rejuvenate the old noggin.
“Rather than pushing buttons for instant rewards, [these rats] remind us that planning, anticipating and enjoying the ride may be key to a healthy brain,” concluded Lambert.
