Sex differences in radial maze performance: Influence of rearing environment and room cues

Abstract

There have been conflicting reports on whether or not male rats outperform females in the radial arm maze. Three factors - rearing environment, room cues, and whether all of the maze arms are baited with food may differentially influence the performance of male and female rats. In the present experiment, littermate male and female hooded rats were reared either in same-sex groups in a complex environment or alone in standard cages for 30 days after weaning. The rats were then trained for 24 days in a partially baited 17-arm radial maze with either a minimum of room cues or a large number of cues. Regardless of rearing condition or number of cues, males made fewer errors (baited and unbaited) than did females, and both sexes reared in the complex environments made fewer errors (baited and unbaited) than did the rats reared alone.