Variation of early social experience and environmental preference in rats.

32 male Long-Evans rats were raised from the time of weaning either as isolates or in groups. Physical environments consisted of horizontally or vertically striped cage walls. After 15 days Ss were tested for preference of the familiar or a novel environment. The hypothesis that isolates would prefer the familiar physical environment and grouped Ss would prefer the novel physical environment was confirmed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)