The influence of artificial paths and landmarks on the foraging behavior of Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus)

In two experiments, we explored how the foraging behavior of Norway rats was influenced by different arrangements of artificial paths and vertical landmarks. The rats used the paths successively less for orienting to food in treatments in which paths led to food but were crooked, in which paths led only halfway to food, and in which paths were misaligned with respect to food. The arrangement of paths influenced the rats’ rate of energy intake in the beginning of the experiment, whereas the arrangement of beacons did not. With experience, the rats employed different orientation strategies in the presence of different arrangements of paths or beacons, and, by the final 4 days, all groups achieved statistically indistinguishable net rates of return. The rates of energy intake were similar because the rats in different treatments traveled similar distances per session, despite differing arrangements of paths and landmarks.     

Familiarity and relatedness: Effects on social learning about foods by Norway rats and Mongolian gerbils

In recent experiments in which the social influences on feeding in Mongolian gerbils were investigated, observer gerbils acquired food preferences from conspecific demonstrators only if the demonstrators and observers were either related or familiar. Even then, the effects of demonstrator gerbils on observers’ food choices lasted less than 24 h. In similar experiments with Norway rats, the familiarity/relatedness of demonstrators and observers had little effect on social learning, and the demonstrators’ influence on observers’ food choices lasted many days. We examined the causes of these differences and found that, after observer gerbils interacted with either unfamiliar or familiar conspecific demonstrators that had been fed using procedures typically used to feed demonstrator rats, they showed long-lasting social learning about foods, whereas observer rats interacting with conspecific demonstrators that had been fed as demonstrator gerbils normally are fed showed effects of familiarity/relatedness to demonstrators on their social learning about foods. Procedural differences, rather than species differences, seem to be responsible for reported inconsistencies in social learning about foods by rats and gerbils.     

Social transmission of information about multiflavored foods

We fed demonstrator rats diets made by adding three, four, or five different flavorants to powdered Purina Rat Chow. We then allowed each of these demonstrator rats to interact with a naive observer rat for 30 min. We found that (1) observers exhibited enhanced preferences for many of the individual flavorants in the multiflavored diets that their respective demonstrators had eaten and (2) the probability of an observer exhibiting enhanced preference for an individual flavorant in its demonstrator’s diet decreased as the number of flavorants in that diet increased. In Experiment 2, the individual members of pairs of subjects were each fed one of two different four-flavored diets. The subjects in each pair interacted for 30 min, then each chose between two single-flavored diets. One of these single-flavored diets contained a flavorant in the four-flavored food that a subject had itself eaten; the other single-flavored diet contained a flavorant in the four-flavored diet that a subject’s partner had eaten. The subjects showed enhanced preferences for six of eight flavorants in the four-flavored diets that their respective partners had eaten.     

克鼠星1号防治褐家鼠和小家鼠的研究

通过室内鼠罐饲养测定和现场灭鼠试验,对克鼠星1号在防治褐家鼠和小家鼠中的效果、适口性和安全性进行了研究。结果表明,克鼠星1号适口性好,褐家鼠和小家鼠的摄食系数高达0．76～1．02。克鼠星1号对褐家鼠和小家鼠的杀灭效果高,其中室内杀灭效果均为100．0％;野外试验为93．3％～97．9％。安全性测定显示,克鼠星1号亦是一种安全型灭鼠剂。鸡、猫和狗误食后15～30min即发生呕吐反应,无中毒或二次中毒现象发生。     

Social influences on the identification of toxic foods by Norway rats

In the present experiments, a naive “observer” rat first interacted with a “demonstrator” rat previously fed a diet unfamiliar to the observer. The observer then sampled two unfamiliar diets, one of which was the diet its demonstrator had eaten. The observer was then injected with LiCl and, following recovery from toxicosis, was offered a choice between the two diets it sampled prior to toxicosis induction. It was found that: (1) each observer rat formed an aversion to whichever diet its demonstrator had not eaten, (2) effects of demonstrators on aversion learning by observers were present even if there was a 7- or 8-day delay between interaction of a demonstrator and observer and diet sampling by the observer, and (3) observers interacting with 3 demonstrators, each fed a different diet, subsequently exhibited a reduced tendency to form an aversion to each of the diets eaten by their demonstrators. Taken together, the results indicate that information acquired from conspecifics as to the diets they have eaten can play an important role in determining the foods to which otherwise naive rats will learn aversions.     

Establishment of dominance in domestic Norway rats: Effects of the degree of captivity and social experience

Learning & Behavior - The effect of the level of captivity and prior social experience on the establishment of dominance was examined in 16 colonies of albino rats. Males were assigned to one...     

Shock vs. ice-water passive avoidance learning in wild and domesticRattus norvegicus

Two experiments comparing passive avoidance responses of wild and domestic Norway rats included both shock and ice water as aversive stimuli. Experiment I indicated that wild rats did not exhibit passive avoidance in these situations and that shock was more effective than ice water as an aversive stimulus for domestic rats. Modifications of the ice-water apparatus in Experiment II resulted in improved passive responses in domestic rats, but ice water was still not as effective as shock. Wild rats again showed no passive avoidance. The results of these two experiments were interpreted in terms of stock differences in species-specific defense reactions for these avoidance situations.     

Socially mediated attenuation of taste-aversion learning in Norway rats: Preventing development of “food phobias”

After interacting with rat demonstrators that had eaten a novel, palatable diet, many observer rats exhibited either attenuation or total blockade of their subsequent acquisition of a lithium-chloride-induced aversion to that diet. In natural circumstances, such social attenuation of aversion learning could prevent new recruits to a population (weanlings or recent immigrants) from learning maladaptive aversions (“food phobias”) to tainted or spoiled samples of normally safe foods that others of their social group were eating.     

Social information processing, security of attachment, and emotion regulation in children with learning disabilities

This study examined the contribution of attachment security and emotion regulation (ER) to the explanation of social information processing (SIP) in middle childhood boys with learning disabilities (LD) and without LD matched on age and grade level. Children analyzed four social vignettes using Dodge's SIP model and completed the Kerns security scale and the children's self-control scale. Study results demonstrated major difficulties in SIP, lower attachment security, and less ER in children with LD compared to children without LD. Attachment as well as the interaction between attachment and ER emerged as important contributors to most SIP steps, suggesting that children with higher security who also have better ER skills will have better SIP capabilities along the different steps, beyond group inclusion. Results were discussed in terms of practical and clinical implications regarding the importance of mother-child attachment and ER skills for social cognitive capabilities in children with LD.     

Experimental "microcultures" in young children: identifying biographic, cognitive, and social predictors of information transmission

In one of the first open diffusion experiments with young children, a tool-use task that afforded multiple methods to extract an enclosed reward and a child model habitually using one of these methods were introduced into different playgroups. Eighty-eight children, ranging in age from 2 years 8 months to 4 years 5 months, participated. Measures were taken of how alternative methods and success in extracting rewards spread across the different groups. Additionally, the biographic, social, cognitive, and temperamental predictors of social learning were investigated. Variations in social learning were related to age, popularity, dominance, impulsivity, and shyness, while other factors such as sex, theory of mind, verbal ability, and even imitativeness showed little association with variance in children's information acquisition.     

Open-field behavior of wild and domestic Norway rats

The open-field behavior of wild and domestic Norway rats was compared in 15-min tests administered over 5 successive days. Wild rats exhibited more ambulation, jumping, grooming, and time inactive than domestic rats and spent more time along the arena wall. Within- and between-trial changes in behavior were generally greater for wild rats. Factor analyses revealed major loadings on factors identified as “locomotor behavior” and “grooming.” Support was obtained for the hypothesis that domestication has raised the threshold for avoidance-escape behavior in response to a novel environment.     

信息传播中的语言符号概念

信息的传播是依赖符号实现的,因而符号在信息传播中处于核心地位。就自然语言符号及人工语言符号在信息传播中所产生的若干影响问题进行了讨论。     

A national evaluation of the impact of the secondary social and emotional aspects of learning (SEAL) programme

In recent years, the English education system has reflected a worldwide interest in social and emotional learning (SEL), as evidenced by the national launch of the secondary social and emotional aspects of learning (SEAL) programme in 2007. SEAL is a whole-school approach designed to positively influence a range of pupil outcomes, including increased social and emotional skills, better behaviour and reduced mental health difficulties. The aim of the current study was to examine the impact of SEAL on such outcomes. The study utilised a quantitative, quasi-experimental design with a sample of 22 schools (approximately 2360 pupils) implementing the SEAL programme, and 19 ‘matched comparison’ schools (approximately 1991 pupils), selected on the basis of similar school-level characteristics. A cohort of pupils in these schools completed annual self-rated assessments of their social and emotional skills (using the Emotional Literacy Assessment and Intervention instrument), mental health difficulties and pro-social behaviour (using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire) over a two-year period. After controlling for a range of school- and pupil-level characteristics, analysis using multi-level modelling indicated marginal, non-significant effects of the SEAL programme on pupils’ social and emotional skills and mental health difficulties, and no significant effect on their pro-social behaviour. The study findings are discussed in relation to existing evidence about the effectiveness of the SEAL programme and the broader SEL evidence base.     

金融市场信息不对称与信息传递

在金融市场上,住处不对称问题广泛存在,并使市场的有效性大受影响,为缓解信息不对称问题,内部人必须通过适当的方式向市场传递有关信号,使外部投资者了解企业的真实价值。信息显示手段包括公司资本结构,股利政策,会计信息披露和金融创新工具选择等。     

远程学习中社会性交互策略和方法

如何通过社会性交互有效提高远程学习的质量,已经成为现代远程教育实践的新课题。论文广泛调研国内外关于远程学习中社会性交互策略研究的最新成果,结合国内现代远程教育中社会性交互的实践方法,通过归纳和演绎,提出了远程学习中社会性交互的策略框架。该框架按照远程学习阶段和交互主体两个维度,对社会性交互策略进行了分类。在此基础上,论文针对学习者与教师,以及学习者与学习者之间社会性交互策略的特点进行了深入的讨论。     

Interactive effect of information structure sequence of information and process learning time on rule learning using computer-based instruction

The purpose of this study was to investigate three instructional design variables hypothesized to improve rule learning by use of information processing methods. These variables included: analysis and structure of information, response-sensitive sequencing of information, and monitoring of learning time. Using secondary education students learning internal punctuation rules, results from two experiments showed that (a) structuring information by a schematic analysis improved learning over a taxonomic analysis, (b) a response-sensitive sequence that first adapted instruction for generalization and second discrimination improved learning over either sequence separately, and (c) program monitoring of the display time interval improved learning over learner control. Findings are discussed in reference to an interactive nature of learning theory, instructional systems, and computer technology.