Effects of caging on the behaviour of rats in the open field

Social and spatial characteristics of the cage environment interact to influence the behaviour of rats in the open field. Caging which does not allow adequate movement may impede maturational and social development in rats, with a resultant influence on their locomotor activity in the test situation. This implies that activity measures may not always be an accurate measure of emotional reactivity, or perhaps, that emotional reactivity may not be an appropriate description of all behaviour in the open field. The results are discussed with reference to psychopharmacological and developmental research, where activity measures are often used. This study illustrates the prevalent ignorance and naivety of many experimenters with regard to both the caging and social behaviour of laboratory rats, and discusses a number of variables whicl1 are frequently neglected in the literature