Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Galef, Bennett G.
• Whiskin, Elaine E.

Titel

Effects of environmental stability and demonstrator age on social learning of food preferences by young Norway rats

Ist Teil von

• Animal behaviour, 2004-10, Vol.68 (4), p.897-902

Ort / Verlag

Kent: Elsevier Ltd

Erscheinungsjahr

2004

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• We used socially learned food preferences of Norway rats, Rattus norvegicus, to examine two common predictions of formal models of social learning in animals: (1) that animals living in relatively stable environments should be more attentive to socially acquired information than animals living in highly variable environments, and (2) that older demonstrators should have greater influence than younger demonstrators on the behaviour of young observers. Old and young demonstrators were equally effective in modifying the food preferences of juveniles that interacted with them. However, food choices of rats that were moved daily from one cage to another and fed at unpredictable times for unpredictable periods were less affected by demonstrators than were rats maintained in stable environments. Our results thus provided experimental support for the first, but not the second, prediction from theory.