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.     

The New Style Boards of Governors – Are They Working?

In the 1980s, the Government believed that the extra demand for new graduates would need to be met by making higher education institutions more 'business–like'. This change was aimed at making these institutions more responsive to the country's economic needs by improving access, quality and efficiency. One consequence of the move to more 'business–like' organisations was the imposition, under The Education Reform Act (1988) and The Further and Higher Education Act (1992), of newly constituted boards of governors upon the new universities and colleges of higher education.
These new boards were structured so that the majority of their membership consisted of 'independent members', defined in the 1988 Act as 'persons appearing to the appointing authority to have experience of, and to have shown capacity in industrial, commercial, or employment matters or the practice of any profession'. These boards were expected to lead, or at least to act as catalysts for, the necessary change process. The paper argues that boards of governors could be said to be very efficient but not necessarily very effective and suggests that more needs to be known about the corporate governance process in the new universities and colleges of higher education.     

Transfer of information concerning distant foods in rats: A robust phenomenon

Following interaction with a “demonstrator” rat, an “observer” rat prefers that diet eaten by its demonstrator prior to their interaction (Galef & Wigmore, 1983). The present series of studies demonstrates that such demonstrator influence on observer diet preference can be found in: (1) first-generation laboratory bred wild rats as well as domesticated rats, (2) food-deprived as well as nondeprived observers, (3) unfamiliar as well as familiar demonstrator-observer pairs, (4) both 21-day-old and adult observers, and (5) rats selecting fluids as well as solids for ingestion. These data indicate that the social transmission of information concerning distant diets is a general and robust phenomenon, observable under a wide variety of experimental conditions.     

Children's Memory and Comprehension of Two Science Programmes

A total of 111 children, 55 aged 8 to 9 years and 56 aged 14 to 15 years of age, watched one of two single‐topic prime‐time science programmes. Recall and comprehension scores following the viewing of the programmes were assessed. In addition, a number of demographic factors including age, sex, linguistic fluency, prior television viewing and reading habits were investigated as possible predictors of learning from television. It was found that age was a significant factor in both recall and comprehension, but even more important was general knowledge. Sex and linguistic fluency was neither systematically nor frequently associated with good performance. Prior viewing habits concerning science programmes on television and reading behaviour were found to have particular effects but were not major predictors of performance. Knowledge growth (defined as differences in performance between pre‐ and post‐test performance on key, repeated, items specifically addressed by the viewed programme) was consistently observed. This major finding indicated clearly that children can learn prime‐time television science information.