Controlled temperatures and preliminary measures of motivation of the white rat.

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Abstract
Standards of maze performance for similar groups of white rats living under controlled temps. of 55[degree], 75[degree], and 90[degree] F were compared with 2 preliminary measures of motivation; grid crossings in an obstruction box and loss of wt. during maze trials and obstruction tests. Rats tested in the cold room (55[degree]) crossed the grid most frequently, with those in the control room (75[degree]) and hot room (90[degree]) standing in 2d and 3d place, respectively. Significant differences in maze learning ability and grid crossings were only partially duplicated in differences in percent original wt. retained during such tests. For the most part, a significant relation was found between mean daily wt. loss and original learning. This relation dropped when relearning ability was considered, and showed little or no correlation with the number of crossings in all of the rooms. It is concluded that differences in motivation of the rats living in the 3 rooms do exist, but the evidence is insufficient to suggest that all differences in performance found can be reduced to motivation alone.

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