In short, for 23 h, each of the experimental (n = 10) and social control subjects (n = 10; to control for interaction with demonstrators) received two containers, one containing diet coc and one containing diet s-cin, while individual-experience control subjects (n = 10; to control whether individual experience has an effect) were given powdered diet.
Just like female rats, male rats decreased their preference for the more palatable food after interaction with demonstrator rats that had eaten the less palatable food.
In order to minimize the involvement of long-term memory processes, our tasks were performed with a short delay (1 h) between social interaction with demonstrator and the test.
The main findings of this study are (1) that male rats decreased their preference for the more palatable food after interaction with demonstrator rats that had eaten the less palatable food and (2) that individual differences exist for this shift which were only weakly related to an interaction between their own initial preference and the amount consumed by the demonstrator rat.
Observers of both sexes learned during free interactions with female demonstrators.
During the hour preceding the interaction with subjects, demonstrators consumed, on average, 8.9 (±1.0) grams of diet coc (range: 1.1 17.6 g; Table 1).
Due to this, experienced males served as model for either male or female observers in three different conditions (free interaction with a demonstrator, visual interaction with a demonstrator placed behind a transparent wall and access to seeds in the presence of a non-demonstrating bird).
One hour after social interaction with the demonstrator cagemate, repeated measures ANOVA demonstrated a preference for the cued food over the novel food both in young (F1,36 = 5.46, P = 0.025) and adult (F1,34 = 6.90, P = 0.01) mice.
Indeed, females husked more seeds than males after free interactions with the female demonstrator (Scheffé test: P<0.002) while males husked more seeds after visual interactions with the female demonstrator (Scheffé test: P<0.001).
Males were also able to learn after visual interactions with the female demonstrator.
