Analysis of Discriminative Control by Social Behavioral Stimuli

Abstract

Visual discriminative control of the behavior of one rat by the behavior of another was studied in a two-compartment chamber. Each rat's compartment had a food cup and two response keys arranged vertically next to the clear partition that separated the two rats. Illumination of the leader's key lights signaled a "search" period when a response by the leader on the unsignaled and randomly selected correct key for that trial illuminated the follower's keys. Then, a response by the follower on the corresponding key was reinforced, or a response on the incorrect key terminated the trial without reinforcement. Accuracy of following the leader increased to 85% within 15 sessions. Blocking the view of the leader reduced accuracy but not to chance levels. Apparent control by visual behavioral stimuli was also affected by auditory stimuli and a correction procedure. When white noise eliminated auditory cues, social learning was not acquired as fast nor as completely. A reductionistic position holds that behavioral stimuli are the same as nonsocial stimuli; however, that does not mean that they do not require any separate treatment. Behavioral stimuli are usually more variable than nonsocial stimuli, and further study is required to disentangle behavioral and nonsocial contributions to the stimulus control of social interactions.Key words: behavioral stimulus, visual social stimulus, matched-dependent learning, social learning, following, imitation, auditory social stimulus, behavior as a discriminative stimulus, ratsOne reason for using animals in social-learning experiments is that they provide a simplified framework for discovering the fundamental processes or building blocks of social interactions. Miller and Dollard (1941) stated the obvious advantage of animal subjects: Their social experiences both inside and outside the experiment can be controlled so that the acquisition of social behavior can be studied relatively uncomplicated by histories of social and verbal interactions. This approach assumes that at least a portion of human social behavior can be explained by the same learning principles that account for the behavior of infrahuman animals. The task then is to determine which learning principles are involved in a particular social interaction and how they combine to produce the complex social interaction.

Cooperative responding in rats maintained by fixed‐ and variable‐ratio schedules

“…Łopuch and Popik () studied coordination between pairs of rats and found that coordination decreased under conditions in which opaque barriers were used to block visual stimulation. However, when Tan and Hackenberg () studied rats under similar conditions, with opaque and clear barriers, they did not replicate their results (also see Hake, Donaldson, & Hyten, ). Tan and Hackenberg argued that the different findings may be attributable to the rats' experience with the coordination task.…”

Peer influences on drug self-administration: Social facilitation and social inhibition of cocaine intake in male rats

“…Early studies using pair-housed animals reported social facilitation of lever pressing maintained by food (Strobel, 1972) and water (Henning and Zentall 1981) reinforcement. In a similar line of research, social learning was used to explain the facilitation of responding in a “follow-the-leader” task in which food delivery was contingent on successfully imitating the behavior of a companion behind a transparent partition (Hake et al 1983). Social facilitation has also been observed in cats using a shock-avoidance procedure (John et al 1968) and rats using a candle-flame avoidance procedure (Bunch and Zentall 1980).…”

Peer influences on drug self-administration

“…Evidence supporting the role of social-learning theories in substance use is limited – ethical constraints limit the degree to which substance use can be modeled and/or reinforced in human populations, and very few preclinical models permit animals to model and/or reinforce the substance use behavior of peers. However, human laboratory studies report that individuals will often imitate the drinking behavior of a model consuming alcohol (Caudill and Marlatt, 1975; Lied and Marlatt, 1979; Larsen et al, 2009), and animal studies report that responding maintained by nondrug reinforcers (e.g., food, water, escape from shock) is facilitated if a subject is allowed to observe an experienced model (John et al, 1968; Strobel, 1972; Bunch and Zentall, 1980; Henning and Zentall, 1981; Hake et al, 1983). To date, very few studies have extended these findings to responding maintained by intravenous drug administration, the most common method by which drug reinforcement is examined in the laboratory.…”