Rosenzweig, Bennett and Diamond

AIM: To investigate how can stimulating environment affects the dendritic branching

METHOD: Lab experiment

PROCEDURE:
1. They placed rats into one of two environments to measure the effect of either enrichment
or deprivation on the development of neurons in the cerebral cortex.
2. In the enriched environment, rats were placed in cages with up to 11 other rats and there
were stimulus objects for the rats to play with, as well as maze training.
3. In the deprived environment, the rat was alone with no stimulation.
4. The rats spent 30 or 60 days in their respective environments and then they were killed in
order to measure the effect of the environment on their brain structures

RESULT:

Post-mortem studies of their brains showed that those that had been in the stimulating
environment (enrichment environment) had an increased thickness in the cortex as a result of
increased dendritic branching compared to the rats in the deprived environment.
The frontal lobe, was heavier in the rats that had been in the stimulating environment.

CONCLUSION:

The combination of having company and many interesting toys created the best conditions for
developing cerebral thickness.
If learning always results in an increase of dendritic branching, then the findings from animal
studies are important to understand the human cortex as well.