Behavioral and neural correlates of hide-and-seek in rats

Abstract

Evolutionary, cognitive, and neural underpinnings of mammalian play are not yet fully elucidated. We played hide-and-seek, an elaborate role-play game, with rats. We did not offer food rewards but engaged in playful interactions after finding or being found. Rats quickly learned the game and learned to alternate between hiding versus seeking roles. They guided seeking by vision and memories of past hiding locations and emitted game event–specific vocalizations. When hiding, rats vocalized infrequently and they preferred opaque over transparent hiding enclosures, a preference not observed during seeking. Neuronal recordings revealed intense prefrontal cortex activity that varied with game events and trial types (“hide” versus “seek”) and might instruct role play. The elaborate cognitive capacities for hide-and-seek in rats suggest that this game might be evolutionarily old.

The Study That Made Rats Jump for Joy, and Then Killed Them

“…A recent study published in Science titled “Behavioral and neuronal correlates of hide‐and‐seek in rats” [ 4 ] illustrates the incongruence that arises when contemporary behavioral science stops short of considering the ethical implications of its own findings. While the pioneering study design, which relied on play bonds between rats and experimenters, sheds new light on rats’ perspective‐taking abilities, autonomy, and the potential for human–rodent relationships, the study subjects were ultimately killed in the service of the research.…”

“…The authors highlight how this “agency‐affording” methodological approach represents a welcome departure from traditional behavioral paradigms, which often rely on strict control and conditioning. [ 4 ] They directly emphasize the potential of this original and unrestricted experimental setup, wherein rats are allowed to just “be rats.” [ 5 ] This study is exciting in that it showcases the potential of human–animal interactions (i.e., the social bonds cultivated between the researchers and the rats) to explore animal minds. It thereby breaks with historical paradigms that impose detachment between experimenters and study subjects in the interest of scientific objectivity, following recent studies on domestic dogs.…”

“…At the conclusion of the experiment, rats were anesthetized (so that tetrode positions could be demarcated) and eventually received an overdose of the anesthetic before being transcardially perfused. [ 4 ] Alongside evidence of sophisticated play behaviors indicative of capacities like agency and autonomy, these procedures generate the sense of a practical contradiction between the study's results and its methods. As a result, the fact that the publication and associated press coverage made no mention of ethical questions raised by the neuroscientific protocol is a surprising and glaring omission.…”

Rodent-borne health risks in farming systems

“…Therefore, the need for pest management is high, and it is necessarily to act before the population is too large to manage. Recently, Reinhold et al (Reinhold, Sanguinetti-Scheck, Hartmann, & Brecht, 2019) demonstrated that rats can play hide-and-seek with a human. Recordings in the medial prefrontal cortex detected neurons that were sensitive to the game structure.…”

“…It was found that the rats vocalized when seeking and finding and were silent when hiding. The research of Reinhold et al (Reinhold et al, 2019) shows that rodents are not only clever, but also able to learn easily. This underpins the fact that it can be difficult to manage a rodent pest, especially when there is an outbreak.…”