Sure, it’s a plastic cookie jar one day, and your new Corvette the next.
A research project recently posted in the National Center for Biotechnology Information by the Department of Psychology at the University of Richmond says test subjects living in stimulating environments make better drivers than subjects living the drab life of a lab rat.
Except in this case, we’re talking about actual lab rats. Who can drive.
The researchers say one group of rats were raised in an “enriched environment” with toys and trinkets meant to spark mental stimulation, while other rats lived the lives, of, well, lab rats. Their vehicle of choice? An empty food container resting on an electrically motorized platform with copper-lined levers for gas and turning, cleverly given the “ROV” moniker for Rat Operated Vehicle. Range, horsepower and torque figures were not immediately available, but visibility was clearly above average. Elon Musk, take note.
Once the researchers taught all the rats to drive stick, “as well as steer in more complex navigational patterns,” they were given driver’s licenses and keys to the car.
Once behind the wheel/lever, the rats would drive their ratmobile by holding down different bars to move and turn towards the ultimate goal: some colorful Froot Loops to snack on, likely supplied by the students and researchers who were probably also snacking on them.
Researchers said that the rats that were living the high life off-campus versus the team stuck in the U of R rat dorm had superior driving skills. This was determined from analyzing the hot-rod rats’ poop, which they said showed chemical signs that the Le Mans-bound rats had higher neuroplasticity, or better mental flexibility to better learn to pilot their machine more quickly to the tasty colored Os at the finish line.
“These results confirm the importance of enriched environments in preparing animals to engage in complex behavioral tasks,” the study’s synopsis reads.
And here we thought robots were going to be taking away driving jobs.
