The Effects of Ethyl Alcohol and Acetaldehyde on Maze Behaviour and Motor Co-Ordination in Rats

Abstract

The study of moderate degrees of alcoholic intoxication in such an animal as the rat demands methods of assessment of the state of the animals, which is a requirement not easy to provide. So far as the more complex integrated activity of the central nervous system is concerned, the use of a suitable maze affords some information of an objective kind. The book by Warden and others (1935) gives much information about construction and operation of mazes. Methods of recording based on projection by a lens (Yerkes and Kellog 1914; Watson, 1914) and the use of electrical contacts (Tolman and Jeffress 1925; Heron, 1933) have been described for rat mazes, while Miles (1928) has suggested the use of blotting-paper in conjunction with an ink writer to show relative speeds within a maze.