Researchers at the University of Richmond in Virginia have taught a group of rats to drive a tiny car by incentivizing them with food.

One of the findings indicates that self-sufficiency has an awesome side effect: stress relief.

The self-driving rats had higher levels of dehydroepiandrosterone, a stress relieving hormone, compared to rats who were driven around in a remote controlled car that they had no control over.

Researchers at the University of Richmond in Virginia have taught rats to drive. Yes, you read that right. Rats at the university's Lambert Behavioral Neuroscience Lab were incentivized with food to learn how to drive a tiny car made of a plastic food container, and miniature wheels.

The floor of the car is made of aluminum and the steering wheel is comprised of copper. When a rat is in the vehicle, standing on the aluminum, hands on the copper, an electrical circuit is activated, moving the car.

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The research shows that rats have more complex brains than we originally thought. We already knew that they could maneuver through mazes and recognize objects but now we know that they're capable of learning more difficult tasks.



“They learned to navigate the car in unique ways and engaged in steering patterns they had never used to eventually arrive at the reward,” says Kelly Lambert, Ph.D., a professor of behavioral neuroscience and co-coordinator of the neuroscience program at the University of Richmond.

Kelly Lambert / University of Richmond

Additionally, researchers noticed that the process of learning to drive had a relaxing effect on the rats, who displayed lower levels of cortisol—a steroid hormone and stress marker— and dehydroepiandrosterone—another steroid hormone that alleviates stress.

The researchers analyzed the rats' feces, which showed that the rats receiving driving lessons had higher levels of dehydroepiandrosterone, indicating that learning a new skill was acting as a stress reliever for the rodents.

Researchers placed different rats in remote controlled cars to se if stress levels were at all comparable. It turns out that the rats who were passengers in these vehicles had higher levels of stress compared to the self-driving rats.

Lambert told New Scientist that the decreased stress levels could be attributed to self-satisfaction and accomplishment, similar to what humans experience when we master a skill.

"In humans, we call this self-efficacy or agency," adds Lambert.

Lambert's team is hoping to continue their research to see what additional data might offer, especially for humans who suffer from illnesses like Parkinson's, a degenerative central nervous system disease.

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