Like humans, some rats prefer to travel behind the wheel, scientists say

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT/Gray News) - Lab rats at a college in Virginia are helping researchers better understand human behavior.

Surprisingly, neuroscientists say humans and rodents share many similarities regarding their minds.

Rats at the Gottwald Center for the Sciences at the University of Richmond are proving that both humans and rats love revving their engines.

Professor of Behavioral Neuroscience Dr. Kelly Lambert began teaching rats to drive six years ago to study how their brains respond to certain stimuli.

“They were giving us clues that they liked it,” Lambert said. “We’d just take them to the lab, and they’d jump in the car.”

Lambert said it takes about three 10-minute weekly training sessions for an entire month before the rats get the hang of being behind the wheel.

“In the past, we’ve also trained them to steer, and that’s more of a complex cognitive task,” Lambert said. “So they have to take what they’ve learned about driving forward and then apply that to going left or right. So that’s going to take about another month.”

Lambert said rodent brains closely resemble human brains.

“We share all the same brain areas, the neurochemicals. If I’m looking at a cell of a brain, called a neuron, from a human or a rat under the microscope, I can’t tell the difference,” Lambert said.

Her research initially focused on depression and anxiety.

“A goal in our lab is to think about mental health and mental disorders, so we focus on something called neuroplasticity. This is the brain’s ability to change from, as I say, the womb to the tomb,” Lambert said.

However, she said her focus changed to a more joyful approach during the pandemic after she noticed that the rats appeared excited to see her and even more excited to drive.

“There’s less research on topics such as joy, enthusiasm, and these positive emotions. There’s some, but we want to contribute more,” Lambert said.

Lambert offered the rats a chance to walk to what she calls a “Fruit Loop tree” with treats or to hop in the car and drive. Two of the three rats preferred to drive to get to the sugary cereal.

“By going out of their way to drive, they’re increasing the anticipation time. And we know from other labs that when you’re looking forward to something, those neurochemicals that are associated with that, such as dopamine, start to increase. Not when you’re doing the thing you’re looking forward to, it does increase then, but as you’re thinking about it and anticipating,” Lambert said. “So the more anticipation time, the more feel-good kind of neurochemicals you can have.”

And rats, apparently, really love Fruit Loops.

“There’s a lot we can learn from looking at these different emotions and these animal models and then, cautiously and carefully, translating to humans,” Lambert said.

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