11.2 Product boredom 11.2.1 Product boredom and psychological theory alternating Some 80 years ago, Tolman(1925) published a paper on spontaneous behaviour(SAB) in rats. He had noted that rats placed a second time in the bottom part of a T-shaped maze had a very strong tendency to visit the arm of the T-maze that they had not visited the first time. A long series of experiments followed in order to determine whether SAB was due to a need for change in the processes were involved. motor activity of the rats or whether perceptual experiments showed that, under Finally, Glanzer(1953) in a series of ingenious the influence of what he called'stimulus satiation or loss of interest in previous stimulation. In visual experience, the rats were searching for new perceptual other words, boredom made them look for new stimulation. Around the same time Hebb(1949) launched a theory that changed the outlook of psychologists on motivation. His central theme was that each individual strived towards an of activation, This idea deviated from the older motivational optimal