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The occipital cortical depth was determined in laboratory mice at both 14 and 20 days of age and after various periods of postweaning exposure to enrichment or isolation. The depth was found to be maximal at 20 days of age. It declined thereafter, irrespective of environment, but the isolate cortical depth decreased faster than the enriched. The postweaning depth of the occipital cortex appears to be determined by an inevitable age-related decrease whose rate of decline may be attenuated by sensory stimulation. The postweaning cortical depth may reflect the extent of cortical neuronal development and associated metabolic activity.

In previous reports exposure to 80 or 90 days of environmental complexity induced a significant increase in the length of the rat cerebrum, whereas 30 days' exposure induced changes which failed to reach significant levels. In the present study after 30 days of differential rearing, cerebral length was 1.2% (p < .005) greater in brains from the enriched animals; the region contributing to this increase lay between the anterior pole and the point of greatest cerebral width. Measurements of cerebral width and brain weight failed to show any significant change, but the body and adrenal weights of the isolated rats were 19.9% (p ≤ .02) greater, respectively, than those of their littermates reared in environmental complexity. However, the ratios of adrenal weight to body weight did not differ significantly between groups.