Preference test
In preference tests, animals are allowed free access to multiple environments which differ in one or more variants. Various aspects of the animal's behaviour can be measured such as latency to approach the variants, relative consumption of variants, the number of entries and duration of time spent in different environments, or the range of activities in each of the environments. These measures can be recorded either by the experimenter or by motion detecting software; often the mean seconds per minute spent in each compartment is calculated.[1] Statistical testing is used to determine whether the difference is large enough in comparison to the control group or the invividual animal, to conclude that preference or aversion has occurred.[1] Strength of preference can infer by the magnitude of the difference in the response, although see "Advantages and disadvantages" below.
Usually the animal is given a chance to explore the apparatus prior to the test to reduce the effects of novelty.
Preference tests are a widely used technique in the study of animal behaviour, sensory capacity and motivation.