Not all lab rats have the most exciting lives, but a few lucky rats got the job of a lifetime when they were chosen to participate in a University of Richmond Lambert Behavioral Neuroscience Laboratory study where they teach rats to drive. As it turns out, rats are pretty good at driving. In fact, as Futurism reports, they haven’t just learned how to drive but also appear to enjoy it and get excited enough about the prospect of driving that they regularly rev the engine while waiting to take off.
Writing for the Conversation, University of Richmond neuroscientist Dr. Kelly Lambert said:
Although cars made for rats are far from anything they would encounter in the wild, we believed that driving represented an interesting way to study how rodents acquire new skills. Unexpectedly, we found that the rats had an intense motivation for their driving training, often jumping into the car and revving the “lever engine” before their vehicle hit the road.
Hell yeah, little rats! Rev those engines. Do it for Dale!
Sadly, Dr. Lambert doesn’t appear to have done much research into how much more excited rats get to drive after watching a NASCAR race, but maybe that’s the next phase of her research. If not, it may be time to finally open the Jalopnik Institute for Automotive Research if you happen to know any wealthy donors who care about important science like this.
Apparently, rats experience joy and other positive emotions that are an important part of their health, just like in humans. And not only do they appear to enjoy driving their little cars around and picking up Froot Loops, but they also look forward to it, showing they can anticipate future rewards and other enjoyable activities. In fact, the entire focus of Lambert’s research has reportedly shifted from studying how chronic stress affects brains to the way positive events and anticipation of those events impact rats’ brains:
Preliminary results suggest that rats required to wait for their rewards show signs of shifting from a pessimistic cognitive style to an optimistic one in a test designed to measure rodent optimism. They performed better on cognitive tasks and were bolder in their problem-solving strategies. We linked this program to our lab’s broader interest in behaviorceuticals, a term I coined to suggest that experiences can alter brain chemistry similarly to pharmaceuticals.
This research provides further support of how anticipation can reinforce behavior. Previous work with lab rats has shown that rats pressing a bar for cocaine – a stimulant that increases dopamine activation – already experience a surge of dopamine as they anticipate a dose of cocaine.
Sadly, it appears the lesson here is that waiting for rewards is better for your brain, which no one wants to hear. She also found that, “As expected, rats housed in enriched environments – complete with toys, space and companions – learned to drive faster than those in standard cages.” So maybe if your teen isn’t thrilled about learning to drive, you can change their mind by ensuring their enclosure includes plenty of space, toys and companions. Before you know it, they’ll be revving the engine outside, giddy with anticipation. Just make sure you bring plenty of Froot Loops along on your driving lessons.