Access to enriched housing is rewarding to rats as reflected by their anticipatory behaviour (2003)

van der Harst, J. E., Fermont, P. C. J., Bilstra, A. E. et al.

Abstract

The strong increase in activity in anticipation of both an enriched cage and sexual contact and the similar response in terms of the behavioural elements analysed indicate that the appraisal of access to an enriched cage shares a common denominator with the perception of sexual contact. Because sexual contact is generally accepted to have highly rewarding properties to rats, we concluded that the enriched cage is highly rewarding as well. The anticipatory response for sexual contact or an enriched cage was clearly different from the anticipation for access to a standard cage or a forced swim session, indicating that the anticipatory response is related to the positive nature of the stimulus.