Abstract
Two aspects of the reliability of the hole-board apparatus were investigated—the similarity between scores of different samples of the same population on their first exposure to the apparatus, and the test-retest reliability. Rats and mice were given a 5-min exposure to the hole-board and then retested for 5 min after 1, 2 or 8 days.
Male rats and mice showed good initial exposure reliability, whereas the female mouse groups differed significantly. All animals showed a positive test-retest correlation (range 0.31–0.78), but a homogeneous group (e.g. all animals habituating) produced higher correlations (range 0.60–0.99).
Comparison of scores on the two 5-min exposures showed that not all groups showed significant habituation, but the animals exposed to the hole-board for two 10-min periods showed both significant habituation and test-retest reliability.
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This work was conducted whilst in receipt of a Roche Research Fellowship, and on leave of absence from the City of London Polytechnic.
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File, S.E., Wardill, A.G. The reliability of the hole-board apparatus. Psychopharmacologia 44, 47–51 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00421183
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00421183