. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2017 Sep 1.

Published in final edited form as: J Neuroimmune Pharmacol. 2015 Oct 19;11(3):456–470. doi: 10.1007/s11481-015-9636-7

Table 2.

Common tests used to measure novelty seeking in rodents

Test	Apparatus	Measure	Advantages	Disadvantages	Reference
Hole-board test	Board that contains equally spaced holes	Head dipping, nose poking, grooming, rearing	Measures emotionality in addition to novelty seeking	Repeated exposure to novel environment can result in fewer head-dipping behaviors	(Boissier and Simon, 1962)
Open-field arena test	Arena with walls to prevent escape	Vertical, horizontal movement, time mobile in center versus time mobile in sides	Locomotor response to a drug of can predict individual vulnerability to addiction	Behavior recorded can reflect anxiety instead of novelty seeking behavior	(Welker, 1957)
Elevated plus maze	Plus-shaped apparatus containing 4 arms at right angles to each other; (2 open arms, 2 closed arms)	Time spent in open arms versus time spent in closed arms	Locomotor activity can be determined in addition to novelty seeking behavior	Behavior recorded can reflect anxiety in contrast to novelty seeking/exploratory behavior	(Crawford et al., 2013)
Light-dark box test	Apparatus containing a small dark box (1/3^rd of apparatus) and large, brightly illuminated box (2/3^rd of apparatus)	Time spent in light box versus time spent in dark box	Relatively inexpensive and rapid test to determine novelty seeking behavior	Behavior recorded can reflect anxiety or anxiogenic properties of drugs in contrast to novelty seeking/exploratory behavior	(Hascoet et al., 2001)