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Quantifying Social Motivation in Mice Using Operant Conditioning
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Are There Multiple Motivators for Helping Behavior in Rats?

Phietica R R Silva1,2, Regina H Silva3, Ramón Hypolito Lima2,4

  • 1Laboratory of Evolution of Human Behavior, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil.

Frontiers in Psychology
|August 28, 2020
PubMed
Summary

Rats frequently freed trapped cage mates, but this behavior wasn't solely driven by empathy. Learning and the presence of a conspecific, not reciprocity, motivated the rats' prosocial actions.

Keywords:
empathylearningprosocialityratsocial behavior

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Area of Science:

  • Animal Behavior
  • Neuroscience
  • Comparative Psychology

Background:

  • Empathy, the ability to share and understand another's emotional state, is crucial for prosocial behavior.
  • Rats freeing cage mates from restraint suggests empathy, but alternative motivations require investigation.
  • Laboratory rodents offer a viable model for studying empathy and prosociality.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate empathy and prosociality in rats using a releasing behavior paradigm.
  • To examine the roles of familiarity, reciprocity, and other motivational factors in this behavior.
  • To determine if rats' door-opening behavior is exclusively empathy-driven.

Main Methods:

  • An adapted protocol of the rat releasing behavior was employed.
  • Experiments assessed the influence of direct reciprocity, prior restriction, and task learning.
  • Motivational factors like exploratory drive and social contact were evaluated.

Main Results:

  • Rats consistently opened the box to free conspecifics.
  • Reciprocity and prior restriction did not enhance performance, suggesting a potential ceiling effect.
  • Rats continued opening the empty box after trials with a trapped conspecific, indicating learning.
  • Performance improved across trials, resembling learning curves, and initial exposure to an empty box reduced subsequent releasing behavior.
  • Exploratory drive and social contact were not primary motivators.

Conclusions:

  • The study does not exclusively link the releasing behavior to empathic motivation.
  • Task learning, potentially reinforced by the presence of a restricted conspecific, appears to be a significant motivator.
  • Further research is needed to fully elucidate the mechanisms and motivations behind this prosocial behavior.