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Cited by 224Primate Behavior and EcologyAnimal Behavior and Welfare StudiesChild and Animal Learning Development

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

Sato, Nobuya, Tan, Ling, Tate, Kazushi, Okada, Maya·2015·Animal Cognition
DOI 10.1007/s10071-015-0872-2
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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.

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Crossref · 10.1007/s10071-015-0872-2

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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
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2015-05-12
Volume
18
Issue
5
Pages
1039-1047
ISSN
  • 1435-9448 (ISSN-L)
  • 1435-9456
DOI
10.1007/s10071-015-0872-2
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

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