Socially transmitted food preferences can be used to study long-term memory in rats |
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| Authors: | Email author" target="_blank">Bennett?G?GalefEmail author Elaine?E?Whiskin |
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| Institution: | Department of Psychology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. galef@mcmaster.ca |
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| Abstract: | Immediately after a recently fed rodentdemonstrator interacts with a conspecificobserver, the observer shows a substantially enhanced preference for whatever food its demonstrator ate. Here we show that (1) influence
of a single, 30-min interaction with a demonstrator on an observer’s food preference lasts for at least 1 month, and (2) observers
interacting on 2 successive days with a demonstrator fed a different diet on each day show significantly enhanced preferences
for both diets a month later. Such enduring effects of single, brief interactions between a demonstrator rat and its observer
provide an efficient means for studying physiological and behavioral substrates of long-term memory in rodents. Together with
the results of previous studies of social influences on food choices of rats, the present results also suggest that rats may
use information acquired from conspecifics to identify both toxic and safe foods for many weeks after they have acquired this
information. |
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