Watch these rats drive little cars for mental health research
That's a feat on its own. But the real discovery in the study -- and its wider implications for human mental health treatment -- was found in their poop, per new findings published in Behavioural Brain Research.
, hormones that control stress responses. Corticosterone is a hormone animals could secrete in high-stakes scenarios like running from a wild animal or defending themselves from predators, but it can also be expressed in lower-risk tasks like doing taxes or worrying about a loved one . Beep beep! Rat comin' through in search of Froot Loops. They're adorable drivers, but the activity proved a mentally stimulating one that improved their emotional resilience.
acts as a sort of"buffer," Lambert said, when corticosterone becomes toxic -- that is, when it can't be turned off in a reasonable amount of time, creating prolonged stress. It's evidence that mastering a complex task, like driving a car, bolstered the rats' emotional resilience. "It is likely that driving gives the rats a sense of control over their environment," she said."In humans, we would say that it enhances a sense of agency or self-efficacy.
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