Passage 10
Observational learning, i.e., learning a task by observing the success or failure of
others, has been reported in many species, including rodents. However, previous
work in rats…raises the question of whether rats can learn a spatial task in a purely
observed space from watching a conspecific, and if so, does this somehow stabilize
their hippocampal representation? To address these questions, we designed an
observational spatial task in a two-part environment…in which an observer rat
watches a demonstrator animal to learn the location of a hidden reward.
Forty-four male long-Evans rats were included in the present study (3–7 months old
at the time of testing)....Rats were tested for task success (i.e., number of erroneous
attempts) and time taken to find the reward (i.e., latency) during their first direct
exploration of the outside space…Naive animals were tested for the ability to find the
reward without any observational training. After at least 20 consecutive successful
trials, the naive animals became demonstrator animals…Observer animals were
trained on the location of the reward by the demonstrator animals.
To investigate whether learning the location of a hidden reward is possible through
social observational training, we trained observer rats to find the location of a
hidden reward using demonstrator animals (five trials daily for five consecutive
days). We then had the observer animals go out to explore the observed space and
find the reward.
The observer group successfully found the reward in 100% of the animals without
error during their very first direct exploration of the outside space…All subsequent
direct explorations were also 100% successful (n = 15 trials, five animals).
Performance on the first direct exploration was statistically different from that of
the naive animals (Pearson chi-square = 14.44,99.9% confidence, nn = 16 and no = 6).
The success rate across trials did not differ significantly between observer animals,
as they all made no errors. While latency towards reward is a common measure
of spatial performance, it is not particularly informative in this case because the
animals invariably first explore the novel space prior to engaging with the spatial
task. Still, there was an appreciable difference between trained and untrained
animals. The animals in the observer group required much less time to find the
first rewards…It was around half the time it took for naïve animals…Thus, the time to
reward was significantly different between the naive and observer groups for the
first two rewards.”
“The time it took the observer animals to successfully complete the task was
comparable to that of the demonstrators…Observer animals tend to explore the
maze once or twice before engaging in the task. The time required to learn and
successfully complete the task is coherent with the literature for such a naturalistic
social learning task (no food deprivation, no time limit). This task is very timeconsuming, and the latency required for the animals to find the reward makes time
less meaningful than success or failure in the task.
“Our results demonstrate that rats do not need to physically explore an environment
to learn a reward location, provided a conspecific demonstrates where it is.”
Social Learning of a Spatial Task by Observation Alone. Adapted from Doublet. (2022).
A father disciplining his child decides to ban television time once every
three times the child talks back or refuses to do chores when asked. What
reinforcement schedule is the father using?
A) Fixed ratio
B) Variable ratio
C) Fixed interval
D) Variable interval
Correct answer is A
The father described here is engaging in operant conditioning, or a form of
associative learning. Operant conditioning involves the use of either rewards or
punishments to increase the frequency of desired behaviors and/or to reduce the
frequency of unwanted behaviors. Here, the father is using a negative punishment
(negative, because he is taking something away rather than adding something, and
a punishment, because it is meant to decrease or discourage a certain behavior
rather than increase or encourage it as a reward would). Answer A is correct here
because the father is applying the negative reinforcement at a fixed ratio of 3:1. For
every three times that the child talks back or refuses to do chores when asked, the
child receives one punishment (loss of his or her television time). As the ratio of
behaviors to negative reinforcements does not change, this is best described as a
fixed ratio reinforcement schedule.
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