Environmental Enrichment

Effect of environmental exposure to a maternally-learned odorant on anxiety-like behaviors at weaning in mice

Early sensory experience, such as exposure to maternal or other environmental factors, is considered to influence neurocognitive development and behaviors. In many species, exposure to odorants during pregnancy or lactation impacts the morpho-functional development of the olfactory circuitry with changes...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Emotion, Pain, & Sentience, Environmental Enrichment, Rearing & WeaningAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Dewaele, A., Badonnel, K., Persuy, M.-A. et al. 2020. Effect of environmental exposure to a maternally-learned odorant on anxiety-like behaviors at weaning in mice. Animal Cognition 23(5), 881–891.

Environmental enrichment improves hippocampus-dependent spatial learning in female C57BL/6 mice in novel IntelliCage sweet reward-based behavioral tests

The IntelliCage is an automated home-cage system that allows researchers to investigate the spontaneous behavior and learning abilities of group-housed mice. The IntelliCage enables us to increase the standardization and reproducibility of behavioral outcomes by the omission of experimenter–mouse interactions....

Year Published: 2023Topics: Animal Training, Behavioral & Cognitive Testing, Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Bramati, G., Stauffer, P., Nigri, M. et al. 2023. Environmental enrichment improves hippocampus-dependent spatial learning in female C57BL/6 mice in novel IntelliCage sweet reward-based behavioral tests. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 17.

Investigating the effect of enrichment on the behavior of zoo-housed southern ground hornbills

Enrichment is essential for the welfare of many zoo-housed animals, yet the value of enrichment is not well understood for all taxa. As an intelligent, long-lived species, the southern ground hornbill (Bucorvus leadbeateri) is a good model for enrichment research....

Year Published: 2021Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Bird, Other Bird

Citation: Brereton, J. E., Myhill, M. N. G., Shora, J. A. 2021. Investigating the effect of enrichment on the behavior of zoo-housed southern ground hornbills. Journal of Zoological and Botanical Gardens 2(4), 600–609.

Environmental enrichment improves cognitive flexibility in rainbow trout in a visual discrimination task: First insights

Year Published: 2023Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Fish, Trout

Citation: Brunet, V., Lafond, T., Kleiber, A. et al. 2023. Environmental enrichment improves cognitive flexibility in rainbow trout in a visual discrimination task: First insights. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 10.

Structural environmental enrichment and the way it is offered influence cognitive judgement bias and anxiety-like behaviours in zebrafish

Environmental enrichment in zebrafish generally reduces anxiety-related behaviours, improves learning in maze trials and increases health and biological fitness. However, certain types of enrichment or certain conditions induce the opposite effects. Therefore, it is essential to study the characteristics of...

Year Published: 2023Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Fish, Zebrafish

Citation: Buenhombre, J., Daza-Cardona, E. A., Sousa, P. et al. 2023. Structural environmental enrichment and the way it is offered influence cognitive judgement bias and anxiety-like behaviours in zebrafish. Animal Cognition 26(2), 563–577.

A touchscreen-based, multiple-choice approach to cognitive enrichment of captive rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta)

Research on the psychological and physiological well-being of captive animals has focused on investigating different types of social and structural enrichment. Consequently, cognitive enrichment has been understudied, despite the promising external validity, comparability, and applicability. As we aim to fill...

Year Published: 2023Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Macaque, Nonhuman Primate

Citation: Calapai, A., Pfefferle, D., Cassidy, L. C. et al. 2023. A touchscreen-based, multiple-choice approach to cognitive enrichment of captive rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). Animals 13(17), 2702.

Environmental enrichment influences spatial learning ability in captive-reared intertidal gobies (Bathygobius cocosensis)

Behavioural plasticity is an advantageous trait for animals living in dynamic environments, and can be induced through learning. While some behavioural traits are innate, others are framed by experience and learning during an individual's lifetime. Many studies have investigated cognitive...

Year Published: 2019Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Fish, Other Fish

Citation: Carbia, P. S., Brown, C. 2019. Environmental enrichment influences spatial learning ability in captive-reared intertidal gobies (Bathygobius cocosensis). Animal Cognition 22(1), 89–98.

Here puppy, chew on this: Short-term provision of toys does not improve welfare in companion dogs

Retail dog toys are often provided to companion animals to provide cognitive and physical stimu- lation and improve the animals' quality of life. These toys, sometimes known as “enrichment toys”, have been shown to play a role in increasing appetite...

Year Published: 2023Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Dog

Citation: Chan, K., Arellano, C., Horowitz, A. 2023. Here puppy, chew on this: Short-term provision of toys does not improve welfare in companion dogs. Animals 13(21), 3340.

Cognitive enrichment and welfare: Current approaches and future directions

Cognitive enrichment” is a subset of enrichment that has gained interest from researchers over the past decade, particularly those working in zoos. This review explores the forms of cognitive enrichment that have been attempted for laboratory, farmed and zoo animals...

Year Published: 2017Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Clark, F. 2017. Cognitive enrichment and welfare: Current approaches and future directions. Animal Behavior and Cognition 4(1), 52–71.

Mothers, environment, and ontogeny affect cognition

The book “Folk Physics for Apes” remains a fascinating book about the way one captive peer-group of chimpanzees understand the world in which they grew. However, the very special living conditions these seven individuals faced prevent any generalizations to the...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Environmental Enrichment, Husbandry & ManagementAnimal Type: Chimpanzee, Nonhuman Primate

Citation: Boesch, C. 2020. Mothers, environment, and ontogeny affect cognition. Animal Behavior and Cognition 7(3), 474–489.