Research ReportThe motirod: a novel physical skill task that enhances motivation to learn and thereby increases neurogenesis especially in the female hippocampus

- Females learn better than males on a more motivating physical skill task.
- Physical skill training rescues new neurons in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus.
- Sex differences in learning can arise from sex differences in motivation.
- Sex differences in learning influence brain structure.

Males and females perform differently on a variety of training tasks. In the present study we examined performance of male and female rats while they were trained with a gross motor skill in which they learn to maintain their balance on an accelerating rotating rod (the accelerating rotarod). During training, many animals simply step off the rod, thus terminating the training. This problem was addressed by placing cold water below the rod. We termed the new training procedure “motirod” training because the trained animals were apparently motivated to remain on the rod for longer periods of time. Groups of male and female adult Sprague-Dawley rats were trained on either the standard accelerating rotarod or the motirod for four trials per day on four consecutive days. Latency to fall from the rod (in seconds) was recorded. The motivating feature increased performance especially in females (p=.001). As a consequence of enhanced performance, females retained significantly more new cells in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus than those trained on the accelerating rotarod or those that received no training. In addition, individuals that learned well retained more new cells, irrespective of sex or task conditions. Previous studies have established that new cells rescued from death by learning remain in the hippocampus for months and mature into neurons (Leuner et al., 2004a; Shors, 2014). These data suggest that sex differences in physical skill learning can arise from sex differences in motivation, which thereby influence how many new neurons survive in the adult brain.This article is part of a Special Issue entitled SI: Brain and Memory.