The Effects Of Different Environmental Characteristics On The Innovative Problem Solving Of Animal And Its Neural Mechanism

Objective Creativity plays a vital role in the survival and evolution of animals,The environment is an important factor affecting animal creativity.This study intends to use animal innovation problem solving models to explore the impact of different characteristics in the enriched environment(environmental novelty and environmental complexity)on the innovative problem solving of mouse,and then explore the neural mechanism of environmental impact on animal problem solving.Methods Sixty male Kunming mice of 3 weeks old were randomly divided into novel monotone group,novel complex group,familiar monotone group and familiar complex group.They were fed in different environments for 14 days,and the innovative problem-solving experiment detected their innovative ability.From simple to difficult,it is divided into three sub-tasks:task one:push-pull task,task two:rotating task and task three:broken jar task;object discrimination experiment to detect its exploration activities on novel and familiar objects;Open field test to detect the movement capability;immunohistochemistry was used to detect changes in the number of dopaminergic neurons or neurofibrillary expression in the ventral tegmental area of the midbrain-the nucleus accumbens system and the ventral tegmental area of the midbrain-the prefrontal system.Results in the task one problem solving success rate,there was no significant difference in the success rate of task-solving between the groups(P>0.05).In the problem-solving time,the novel monotonous group and the novel complex group were significantly lower than the familiar monotonous group and the familiar complex group(P<0.05);in the task two problem solving success rate,the novel monotonous group and the novel complex group were significantly higher than the familiar monotonous group and the familiar complex group(P<0.05);in the task three problem solving success rate,There was no significant difference between the groups(P>0.05).The results of object discrimination experiments:novelty monotonous groups and novel complex groups have sand ignificantly higher exploration time for novel objects than familiar objects,there is no significant difference in the exploration time between novel monotonous groups and familiar complex groups for novelty and familiar objects(P>0.05).Results of open field experiment:There was no significant difference in exercise distance between groups(P>0.05).Immunohistochemistry results:the number of dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area of the novel monotonous group and the novel complex group was significantly higher than that of the familiar monotonous group and the familiar complex group(P<0.05);the average optical density of nerve fibers in the nucleus accumbens region of the novel monotone group and the novel complex group was significantly higher than that of the familiar monotonous group and the familiar complex group(P<0.05);there was no significant difference in the average optical density of the nerve fibers in the prefrontal area(P>0.05).Conclusion The novel environment can enhance the ability of mice to solve innovative problems by promoting exploration activities,which may be achieved through the ventral tegmental zone to the nucleus accumbens pathway dopamine system mechanism;and the complexity of the environment has no effect on the innovative problem solving of mouse.