Novelty Exploration Research Articles

Imprinting and exploration of slight novelty in chicks.

SHORTLY after hatching, domestic chicks will respond socially to a wide range of moving or conspicuous objects. As a result of ‘imprinting’, their social behaviour is increasingly limited to objects with which they have had visual experience. In general, the longer that chicks have been exposed to an object, the more strongly they prefer it when given a choice between it and something else1–5. Some evidence, however, suggests that in the early stages of imprinting, the trend towards a highly restricted preference is temporarily reversed and some birds may even prefer the unfamiliar object6,7.

Exploration, arousal and autism.

From Berlyne's theory of exploration three predictions were derived concerning exploratory behaviour of autistic children. These predictions related to (a) the latency and level of exploratory responsiveness, (b) the modulation of the internal state and (c) the temporal course of exploration. To test these predictions, subjects were exposed to a completely novel object in an otherwise familiar environment, and again on five subsequent occasions. The results showed a remarkably consistent trend in exploration over all subjects: although initially inhibited and depressed, exploration eventually increased to a level comparable with that of normal subjects of the same age. But this responsiveness also showed a relatively rapid decline. Thus exploration of novelty was a parabolic function of time. The original predictions received substantial but not entire support. The results were discussed in terms of the interaction between collative and organismal variables, as ‘novelty’ and arousal.

Effects of age on novelty reactions and exploration in rats.

Female rats of three ages (approximately 39, 160 and 316 days) were individually observed in an exploration box which consisted of a novel and a familiar half. By means of a behaviour-sampling technique it was recorded which half of the box the rat was in and what sort of activity it was engaged in at the end of each of 90 10-sec. periods. The number of 8 × 8 in. units entered was also recorded. All rats were seen in the novel half more often than in the familiar half and this novelty preference was greatest for the youngest rats. However, exploration and inter-unit locomotion scores tended to be lower with the younger animals. For all three groups these two scores showed a significant decrement during an observation period.

Exploration of novelty in children with and without upper C.N.S. lesions and some effects of auditory and visual incentives

Exploration of novelty in children with and without upper C.N.S. lesions and some effects of auditory and visual incentives

Food deprivation and locomotor exploration in the white rat

10 food-deprived rats and 10 non-deprived rats were observed for 15 minutes each in an exploration box allowing free choice between novel and familiar units. Although all subjects showed a preference for novelty, there were no significant differences in these preferences between the two groups as measured by the number of 10-second periods spent in the novel half of the box and by the percentage of novel units entered. However, the food-deprived rats entered a significantly greater total number of units. It was concluded that, contrary to earlier studies, food deprivation had not effected exploration of novelty but had possibly influenced activity of some origin other than strict exploratory tendencies.