![]() ![]() Therefore, we tested whether the health condition of the demonstrator rat influences STFP results. In theory, the odour presented by an unhealthy demonstrator rat may indicate an odour associated with potentially dangerous food, which is essential for diet selection. Observer rats learn a food preference after interaction with a demonstrator rat poisoned by LiCl Here, we explore this behavioural paradigm further and in addition to LiCl-treated and anaesthetized demonstrator rats, we test half-anaesthetized demonstrator rats showing clear motor deficits and suggesting a severe health condition in a STFP experimental protocol. One explanation for this test failing to communicate a social transmission of food preference (STFA) may be because the rat cannot detect the health condition of its poisoned or anaesthetized littermate. In the STFP task, a demonstrator rat made ill by lithium chloride (LiCl) injection or unconscious following anaesthetic administration still induces a food preference in observers only and not a food aversion ( Galef & Dalrymple, 1978 Galef, 1982 Galef et al, 1983, 1985). This pattern has been found in red-winged blackbirds ( Agelaius phoeniceus) ( Mason & Reidinger, 1982 Mason et al, 1984) but remains unproven in laboratory rats. For example, a demonstrator rat in an unhealthy state may indicate the risk of food recently consumed and an observer may learn food aversion rather than preference from the unhealthy demonstrator. Information about unsafe foods can also be theoretically transmitted via the STFP test. This phenomenon suggests a mechanism by which a rat learns safety information about novel food from conspecifics and uses this information when making dietary decisions. ![]() When the observer rat is subsequently presented with a choice between the food containing the learned odour or a novel odour it prefers the former ( Galef & Whiskin, 2000). In the STFP test, an observer rat interacts with a demonstrator rat that has recently eaten food with a novel odour, and learns this odour from the demonstrator rat's breath. Information regarding food safety can be transmitted between individual rats and used for diet selection, as evidenced by behavioural tests such as the social transmission of food preference (STFP) test ( Birch, 1999 Galef, 1982, 2003 Posadas-Andrews & Roper, 1983). These results suggest that the social transmission of food preferences task is independent of a demonstrators’ health, and that information about dangerous foods cannot be transmitted using this behavioural task.ĭiet selection is vital for animal survival, especially when they are faced with novel foods ( Birch, 1999). Furthermore, anaesthetized demonstrator rats and half-anaesthetized demonstrator rats, which showed obvious motor deficits suggesting an unhealthy state, also socially transmitted food preferences to observers. As expected, the observer rat formed an odour preference after interacting with a demonstrator rat that had just eaten food containing a new odour, however, odour preference rather than aversion was also formed after interacting with a demonstrator rat injected with LiCl (used to induce gastric malaise). In this study, we tested how demonstrators’ health affects the exchange of odour information and whether observers can learn danger information from an unhealthy demonstrator. However, previous studies have failed to detect the transmission of information about food of potential danger and food aversion using STFP test. ![]() The social transmission of food preferences (STFP) is a behavioural task of olfactory memory, in which an observer rat learns safe food odours from a demonstrator rat, and shows preference for this odour in a subsequent choice test. ![]()
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