Tiffany McIntosh

1/28/15
Psychology
Maureen Donegan
Reading 2: More experience = Bigger brain
In this experiment the question arose What do you suppose is the parents
reasoning behind providing infants with so much to see and do? Parents believe that
children need a stimulating environment for optimal intellectual development and brain
growth. Mark Rosenzweig, with the help of Edward Bennett and Marian Diamond at the
University of California at Berkley preformed a series of sixteen experiments over a ten
year period to try and address the issue of the effect of experience on the brain.
It all started back in 1785 with Vincenzo Malacarne, an Italian anatomist.
Vincenzo studied dogs from the same litter and birds form the same batches of eggs.
He trained one dog and bird from the litter for a long period of time with more attention,
while the others would be equally cared for but but they would also be untrained. After
the experiment Vincenzo preformed autopsies on the animals and discovered that the
brain of the trained animal was more complex with more folds and fissures. Sadly, in the
nineteenth century research determined that Vincenzos experiment was not a accurate
way of brain measurement.
By the 1960s new technology was devolved that allowed scientists to measure
the brain accurately by using high-magnification and using different levels of brain
enzymes and neurotransmitters. Thus brought us the experiment More experience =
Bigger brain.

Implicit in Rosenzweigs research was the belief that animals raised in

highly stimulating environments will demonstrate differences in brain
growth and chemistry when compared with animals reared in plain or dull
circumstances. In each of the experiments reported in this article, 12 sets
of 3 male rats, each from the same litter, were studied. (Hock 13)
There were three different environments for the rats to live in. One, being a
standard cage that had several rats in an adequate amount of space with food and
water. The second having slightly smaller cage that was separate from the rest of the
rats cages and in a different room. Only one rat was placed in this cage with food and
water. The third, being the biggest cage with six to eight rats. This cage had a variety of
objects that were changed everyday. After four to ten weeks the rats were examined by
random order so experimental bias wasn't present. When the rat brains were weighed,
measured and analyzed. Rosenzweig and his crew found one brain enzyme called
acetylcholinesterase. This chemical allows a faster and more efficient transmission of
impulse among the brain cells. So, getting to the results, the brains of the rats with the
larger cage and more things to play with, in fact, had different brains then the rest of the
rats in the experiment. The Cerebral Cortex that causes movement, memory, learning,
hearing, etc. was heavier and thicker. Looking through an electron microscope their
brains were around 50% larger than the rats with the adequate and isolated cage. The
ratio of RNA to DNA was also greater. There can now be no doubt that many aspects of
brain anatomy and brain chemistry are changed by experience (15)
This work by Rosenzweig, Bennett, and Diamond has served as a
catalyst for continued research in this developmental area that continues

today. Over the decades since the publication of their article, these
scientists and many others have continued to confirm, refine, and expand
their findings. (Hock 17)
Basically, this experiment demonstrates that learning just by itself is less effective
than learning in an enriched environment or experience. This isn't just effective in
newborns or children. Adults, even adult animals, can improve their mind with these
changes. With the independent variable being the cages. Size and toys in the cage. the
dependent being the size of the rats brain. The control group being the rats with the
adequate cage, food and water. And last being the experimental group being the rats
with the toys and eight rats in one cage.
This research and the findings are important to modern day society because it
helps to know how people learn better and longer. For example, in a classroom a
teacher wants their students to have the best resources and have the information their
teaching stuck with and learn with the student. Knowing that people has a bigger brain
when exposed to a more fun environment will or should change how a teacher
preforms in the classroom.
Along with the similarities to Psychodynamic Perspective and my own childhood
experiences they involve the development of behavior. I believe that when a child has a
more experienced childhood, like playing sports, they have a better behavior and they
learn faster and it sticks longer. Just like the rats. The more toys and other rats to play
with the bigger brain they had. I have been playing sports my whole life and without
sports i feel that i wouldn't be as motivated in my school work. Playing sports and being
part of a team taught me to never give up.

Works Cited
Ciccarelli, Saundra K., and J. Noland. White. Psychology / Saundra K. Ciccarelli, J. Noland
White. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, 2012. Print.
Hock, Roger R. Forty Studies That Changed Psychology: Explorations into the History of
Psychological Research. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2009. Print.