The DOI matches its Crossref record; 37 of the 38 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Rats demonstrate helping behavior toward a soaked conspecific
Abstract
Helping behavior is a prosocial behavior whereby an individual helps another irrespective of disadvantages to him or herself. In the present study, we examined whether rats would help distressed, conspecific rats that had been soaked with water. In Experiment 1, rats quickly learned to liberate a soaked cagemate from the water area by opening the door to allow the trapped rat into a safe area. Additional tests showed that the presentation of a distressed cagemate was necessary to induce rapid door-opening behavior. In addition, it was shown that rats dislike soaking and that rats that had previously experienced a soaking were quicker to learn how to help a cagemate than those that had never been soaked. In Experiment 2, the results indicated that rats did not open the door to a cagemate that was not distressed. In Experiment 3, we tested behavior when rats were forced to choose between opening the door to help a distressed cagemate and opening a different door to obtain a food reward. Irrespective of how they learned to open the door, in most test trials, rats chose to help the cagemate before obtaining a food reward, suggesting that the relative value of helping others is greater than the value of a food reward. These results suggest that rats can behave prosocially and that helper rats may be motivated by empathy-like feelings toward their distressed cagemate.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“Recent studies suggest that rats also demonstrate helping behavior toward distressed conspecifics, such as those in a narrow tube (Bartal et al., 2011, 2016) and in water (Sato et al., 2015; Yamagishi et al., 2019, 2020).”
From Helping behavior in prairie voles: a model of empathy and the importance of oxytocin (2022) · cites this paper as Sato et al., 2015
Citations
Cites
Empathy: its ultimate and proximate bases
Preston, S. D., & de Waal, F. B. M. (2002) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x02000018 · Cited by 4,126
Fehr, E., & Fischbacher, U. (2003) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature02043 · Cited by 3,475 · cited 4×
“previously been thought to be specific to humans (Fehr and Fischbacher 2003) or at least to non-human primates (Clay and de Waal 2013; de Waal 2008; Preston”
InfluentialHoffman, M. L. (2000) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511805851 · Cited by 2,967
Spatial localization does not require the presence of local cues
Morris, R. G. M. (1981) · Learning and Motivation · doi:10.1016/0023-9690(81)90020-5 · Cited by 2,699
The relation of empathy to prosocial and related behaviors
Eisenberg, N., & Miller, P. A. (1987) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.101.1.91 · Cited by 2,672
Putting the Altruism Back into Altruism: The Evolution of Empathy
de Waal, F. B. M. (2008) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.59.103006.093625 · Cited by 2,483
Empathy and Moral Development: Implications for Caring and Justice
Raboteg-Šarić, Z., & Hoffman, M. L. (2001) · Contemporary Sociology A Journal of Reviews · doi:10.2307/3089337 · Cited by 2,413
Altruistic Helping in Human Infants and Young Chimpanzees
Warneken, F., & Tomasello, M. (2006) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1121448 · Cited by 1,743
Development of concern for others.
Zahn-Waxler, C., Radke-Yarrow, M., Wagner, E., & Chapman, M. (1992) · Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1037/0012-1649.28.1.126 · Cited by 1,314
Shamay-Tsoory, S. G. (2011) · The Neuroscientist · doi:10.1177/1073858410379268 · Cited by 1,059
Bernhardt, B. C., & Singer, T. (2012) · Annual Review of Neuroscience · doi:10.1146/annurev-neuro-062111-150536 · Cited by 952
Empathy and pro-social behavior in rats
Bartal, I. B.-A., Decety, J., & Mason, P. (2011) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1210789 · Cited by 934
Social Modulation of Pain as Evidence for Empathy in Mice
Langford, D. J., Crager, S. E., Shehzad, Z., Smith, S. B., Sotocinal, S. G., Levenstadt, J. S., Chanda, M. L., Levitin, D. J., & Mogil, J. S. (2006) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1128322 · Cited by 865
Warneken, F., & Tomasello, M. (2008) · British Journal of Psychology · doi:10.1348/000712608x379061 · Cited by 675
Putting together phylogenetic and ontogenetic perspectives on empathy
Decety, J., & Svetlova, M. (2012) · Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2011.05.003 · Cited by 508
Empathy toward strangers triggers oxytocin release and subsequent generosity
Barraza, J. A., & Zak, P. J. (2009) · Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.04504.x · Cited by 489
Jean Decety, A. (2011) · Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.2011.06027.x · Cited by 389
Toward a cross-species understanding of empathy
Panksepp, J., & Panksepp, J. B. (2013) · Trends in Neurosciences · doi:10.1016/j.tins.2013.04.009 · Cited by 309
Generalized Reciprocity in Rats
Rutte, C., & Michael Taborsky, A. (2007) · PLoS Biology · doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0050196 · Cited by 290
Pro-social behavior in rats is modulated by social experience
Ben-Ami Bartal, I., Rodgers, D. A., Bernardez Sarria, M. S., Decety, J., & Mason, P. (2014) · eLife · doi:10.7554/elife.01385 · Cited by 286
Emotional reactions of rats to the pain of others.
Church, R. M. (1959) · Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0043531 · Cited by 285
Chimpanzees’ flexible targeted helping based on an understanding of conspecifics’ goals
Yamamoto, S., Humle, T., & Tanaka, M. (2012) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1108517109 · Cited by 275
Empathy is moderated by genetic background in mice
Chen, Q., Panksepp, J. B., & Lahvis, G. P. (2009) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0004387 · Cited by 211
Bonobos Respond to Distress in Others: Consolation across the Age Spectrum
Clay, Z., & de Waal, F. Β. Μ. (2013) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0055206 · Cited by 208
Rice, G. E., & Gainer, P. (1962) · Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0042276 · Cited by 201
Chimpanzees help conspecifics obtain food and non-food items
Melis, A. P., Warneken, F., Jensen, K., Schneider, A.-C., Call, J., & Tomasello, M. (2010) · Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rspb.2010.1735 · Cited by 195
Experience modulates vicarious freezing in rats: a model for empathy
Atsak, P., Orre, M., Bakker, P., Cerliani, L., Roozendaal, B., Gazzola, V., Moita, M., & Keysers, C. (2011) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0021855 · Cited by 193
Infant Development: Perspectives from German Speaking Countries
Bischof-Köhler, D. (1991) · Cited by 171
A demonstration of observational learning in rats using a bidirectional control.
Heyes, C., & Gr, D. (1990) · PubMed · Cited by 166
Social modulation of learning in ratsPreprint
Knapska, E., Mikosz, M., Werka, T., & Maren, S. (2009) · Learning & Memory · doi:10.1101/lm.1670910 · Cited by 162
Observational Learning and Social Facilitation in the Rat
Zentall, T. R., & Levine, J. M. (1972) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.178.4066.1220 · Cited by 143
Desire for social contact, not empathy, may explain “rescue” behavior in rats
Silberberg, A., Allouch, C., Sandfort, S., Kearns, D., Karpel, H., & Slotnick, B. (2014) · Animal Cognition · doi:10.1007/s10071-013-0692-1 · Cited by 142
The Development of Empathy in Infants
Bischof-Köhler, D. (1991) · Open access LMU (Ludwid Maxmilian's Universitat Munchen) · doi:10.5282/ubm/epub.2915 · Cited by 137
Cognitive and Motivational Requirements for the Emergence of Cooperation in a Rat Social Game
Viana, D. S., Gordo, I., Sucena, É., & Moita, M. A. P. (2010) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0008483 · Cited by 82
The surprising empathic abilities of rodents
Mogil, J. S. (2011) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2011.12.012 · Cited by 56
Role of primary motivation in stimulus preexposure effects.
Killcross, S., & Balleine, B. W. (1996) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Animal Behavior Processes · doi:10.1037//0097-7403.22.1.32 · Cited by 53
Transmission of stress between cagemates: A study in rats
Akyazı, İ., & Eraslan, E. (2013) · Physiology & Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.physbeh.2013.10.006 · Cited by 30
Flagged first, then by citations
1 of the 38 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Mammalian empathy: behavioural manifestations and neural basis
de Waal, F. B. M., & Preston, S. D. (2017) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nrn.2017.72 · Cited by 957
Decety, J., Bartal, I. B.-A., Uzefovsky, F., & Knafo-Noam, A. (2016) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2015.0077 · Cited by 740
Insular cortex mediates approach and avoidance responses to social affective stimuli
Rogers-Carter, M. M., Varela, J. A., Gribbons, K. B., Pierce, A. F., McGoey, M. T., Ritchey, M., & Christianson, J. P. (2018) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/s41593-018-0071-y · Cited by 277
Empathy for Animals: A Review of the Existing Literature
Young, A., Khalil, K. A., & Wharton, J. (2018) · Curator The Museum Journal · doi:10.1111/cura.12257 · Cited by 191
The social life of Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus)
Schweinfurth, M. K. (2020) · eLife · doi:10.7554/elife.54020 · Cited by 176
Metadata
- Authors
- Sato, N., Tan, L., Tate, K., & Okada, M.
- Affiliations
- Kwansei Gakuin University (JP)
- Corresponding author
- Sato, Nobuya
- ORCID
- Sato, Nobuya
- Venue
- Animal Cognition
- Published
- 2015-05-12
- Volume
- 18
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 1039-1047
- ISSN
- 1435-9448 (ISSN-L)
- 1435-9456
- OpenAlex
- W349051442
- Cited by
- 224
- References
- 38
- Citations by year
- 2026: 15 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 22 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 20 · 2021: 29 · 2020: 19 · 2019: 20 · 2018: 28 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 16 · 2015: 5
- FWCI
- 34.91
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Update notices
- correction (2015-07-25)
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Animal Cognition (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- JSPS KAKENHI (26118514, 24500481)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Primate Behavior and Ecology
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Animal Science and Zoology › Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Keywords
- prosocial behavior, helping behavior, rats, empathy, prosocial motivation
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Behavior, Animal, Empathy, Female, Helping Behavior, Learning, Male, Reward, Rats, Sprague-Dawley, Rats
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
