Obstacle Course enrichment enhances long-term object recognition memory in mice, exceeding the effects of enriched housing at long retention delays¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · causal r2 · q2 · i3 large
Currency · newest study 2022 · checked against its sources 2026-10-26 (automated, 2 of 2 entries) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i3 With a 24-h delay and shortened 7-min sample phase, only the OC group discriminated the novel object, and OC outperformed the EH, CC, and SH groups. → Gattas 2022 q2 i3 The OC group's SOR enhancement persisted one month after enrichment ended, with OC significantly better than EH and CC at the 24-h delay. → Gattas 2022 (2)

Evidence¶

Gattas 2022¶

Gattas, S., Collett, H. A., Huff, A. E., Creighton, S. D., Weber, S. E., Buckhalter, S. S., Manning, S. A., Ryait, H. S., McNaughton, B. L., & Winters, B. D. (2022). A rodent obstacle course procedure controls delivery of enrichment and enhances complex cognitive functions. npj Science of Learning. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-022-00134-x

q2 · i3 · causal · r2

Controlled experiment with four housing/course groups of mice (n = 40 total, 10 per group) tested on spontaneous object recognition with a 7-min sample. The delay x group interaction was significant, F(3, 36) = 16.818, p < 0.001, partial η2 = 0.584; only the OC group "discriminated the novel object" at 24 h.

"Further analysis with post hoc independent samples t-tests revealed signi ficant differences in performance between the OC group and the EH group, t(18) = −6.287, p < 0.001, CC group, t(18) = −5.573, p < 0.001 and SH group, t(18) = −5.836, p < 0.001, when the delay was 24 h."

Gattas 2022 (2)¶

Gattas, S., Collett, H. A., Huff, A. E., Creighton, S. D., Weber, S. E., Buckhalter, S. S., Manning, S. A., Ryait, H. S., McNaughton, B. L., & Winters, B. D. (2022). A rodent obstacle course procedure controls delivery of enrichment and enhances complex cognitive functions. npj Science of Learning. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-022-00134-x

q2 · i3 · causal · r2

One-month post-enrichment replication of the SOR task (7-min sample, 24-h delay) in the same four-group design, with a significant group main effect, partial η2 = 0.230; only the OC group performed "significantly above chance", t(9) = −5.962, p < 0.001.

"Observed were significant main effects of group, F(3, 36) = 3.575, p = 0.023, partial η2 = 0.230, and delay, F(1, 36) = 7.421, p = 0.010, partial η2 = 0.171, while the interaction between group and delay was not signi ficant, F(3, 36) = 2.745, p = 0.057, partial η2 = 0.186."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Long-Term Memory — outcome: instruction changes it
• Visual Processing — outcome: instruction changes it

Related Claims¶

• Both Obstacle Course and Control Course training enhance cognitive flexibility, reducing sessions needed for reversal learning in pairwise visual discrimination — related
• Obstacle Course enrichment enhances cross-modal (tactile-to-visual) object recognition, with only the OC group discriminating at a 1-h delay — related
• Obstacle Course enrichment enhances spatial object location memory in mice, outperforming enriched housing with a shortened sample phase — related
• Obstacle Course enrichment supports view-invariant object recognition, with OC mice treating rotated objects as familiar while enriched-housing mice treated them as novel — related
• Obstacle Course enrichment enhances object category recognition memory, allowing category discrimination at a 1-h delay without exemplar preexposure — related