Fig 1.
A schematic view of the experimental chamber.
A transporter was set up at the entrance. The rat had free access to the transporter at all times. In Zone B the arrangement of the tunnels was the same all the time, in Zone C, on the test days (T1, T2, T3), it was changed depending on the test group.
Fig 2.
Arrangement of objects in the experimental chamber in each experimental setting.
Tunnels marked with * were the see-saw-like tunnels. On the left, the setting during habituation is presented. On the right, the setup during the test days is presented: in the Mov group, two stationary tunnels were replaced by two movable tunnels (zone C). In the MovAdd group, tunnels were added, and the tunnel on the sting was movable (zone C). In the Add group, tunnels were added, and there were no movable tunnels.
Table 1.
Descriptive statistics of all behavioral measurements analyzed in this study.
Group Add—addition of novel tunnels; group MovAdd—addition of movable tunnel; group Move—replacement of familiar tunnel for movable one. H—habituation phase; T1-T2—consecutive trials.
Fig 3.
Mean time spent by rats in the changed zone of the chamber.
Group Add: addition of novel stationary objects in the experimental box, group Mov: movement of familiar objects in the experimental box, group MovAdd: addition of a novel movable object in the experimental box. Error bars represent standard error (SE).
Fig 4.
Mean time spent on the contact with tunnels in the changed zone of the chamber.
Group Add: addition of novel stationary objects in the experimental box, group Mov: movement of familiar objects in the experimental box, group MovAdd: addition of a novel movable object in the experimental box. Error bars represent standard error (SE).
Fig 5.
Mean time spent on contact with the tunnels in the unchanged zone of the chamber.
Group Add: addition of novel stationary objects in the experimental box, group Mov: movement of familiar objects in the experimental box, group MovAdd: addition of a novel movable object in the experimental box. Error bars represent standard error (SE).
Table 2.
The ranking list of statistically significant effects based on the partial Eta2 values.
The Eta2 values of statistically non-significant effects have been set to “0”.