Rats Show Empathy, Too

A new study shows that empathy may drive rats to help each other. The finding gives insight into the biological roots of our urge to assist others in need. The model the researchers developed will also provide an opportunity for further study.

Empathy motivates us to take action. We feel distressed when another is suffering, and we want to stop it. Other primates like apes are also known to help each other when they perceive distress. Rats share the distress of other rats as well, but whether they would take the next step to assist a fellow rat in distress was unknown. Inbal Ben-Ami Bartal, Dr. Jean Decety and Dr. Peggy Mason at the University of Chicago developed a model to test whether rats would be driven by empathy to help each other.

For each hour-long test session, the scientists put pairs of rats together in cages. One rat roamed freely, and the other was restrained in a clear tube at the center of the cage. Each tube had a door that could be nudged open only from the outside by the free rat. on December 9, 2011.

After an average of 7 daily sessions, most rats learned how to quickly release the door to set their captive companion free. When the rat was first released, the scientists observed, the pairs raced around and explored the cage together. In contrast, free rats paid little attention to tube restraints that were empty or contained only a toy rat.

Even when the free rats were denied access to the liberated rat, the rats still opened the restrainer. This showed that the free rats weren’t opening the doors to have a playmate. Rather, they were opening the door specifically to release the trapped rat.


 Get The Latest By Email

Weekly Magazine Daily Inspiration

To test how much value the rats placed on liberating a trapped cagemate, the scientists presented rats with 2 restrainers—one with a rat inside and another containing 5 chocolate chips, a favorite rat snack. A free rat could choose to eat all the treats himself by opening the chocolate restrainer first or blocking the entrance to the chocolate restrainer. But the researchers found that the free rats opened the restrainers in no consistent order and allowed their liberated cagemates an average of 1. 5 chips. When an empty restrainer was paired with a chocolate-containing one, the free rats ate all 5 chocolates.

That was very compelling,” Mason says. It said to us that essentially helping their cagemate is on a par with chocolate. He can hog the entire chocolate stash if he wanted to, and he does not. We were shocked.

This is the first evidence of helping behavior triggered by empathy in rats,” Decety says. The researchers are now using this model to explore further questions, such as whether the role of empathy in motherhood might make females more likely to become door openers than males.

All of this tells us that acting on empathic feelings to help another in need is a biological and in fact a neurobiological mandate,” Mason says. It’s in our brain. by Harrison Wein, Ph. D.

  • Human See, Human Do?
    http://www. nih. gov/researchmatters/august2009/08172009imitation.

  • http://nccam. nih. gov/research/results/spotlight/060608.

Article Source:
 http://www.nih.gov/researchmatters/december2011/12192011empathy.htm

Monday, 24 July 2023 16:37

Uterine fibroids, or leiomyomas, are benign tumors commonly occurring in the uterus. They affect many women, particularly African Americans, and can lead to clinical symptoms such as abnormal...

Friday, 21 July 2023 15:37

During uncomfortably hot weather, people seek ways to cool down their homes. Air conditioners often become the default solution when temperatures rise as they provide fast and effective relief from...

Friday, 21 July 2023 14:28

  Brushing your teeth is essential for maintaining optimal oral health, but like most aspects of health, the full story is more complicated.

Friday, 21 July 2023 06:06

Are you seeking a gentle yet powerful practice that brings balance to your body and mind? Look no further than Tai Chi. 

Friday, 21 July 2023 05:40

  As the world grapples with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a surge of interest and concern regarding vaccines. Vaccines play a crucial role in preventing infectious diseases,...

Thursday, 20 July 2023 22:38

As the temperatures rise during the summer months, it's important to be aware of the risks associated with extreme heat.

Thursday, 20 July 2023 15:45

People who exercise only on the weekend have similar heart-health benefits as those who exercise throughout the week

Wednesday, 19 July 2023 17:42

The World Health Organisation (WHO) recently reported that around one in six couples globally are affected by infertility. For many years people tended to blame women for a couple’s infertility –...

AVAILABLE LANGUAGES

English Afrikaans Arabic Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Traditional) Danish Dutch Filipino Finnish French German Greek Hebrew Hindi Hungarian Indonesian Italian Japanese Korean Malay Norwegian Persian Polish Portuguese Romanian Russian Spanish Swahili Swedish Thai Turkish Ukrainian Urdu Vietnamese

follow InnerSelf on

facebook icontwitter iconyoutube iconinstagram iconpintrest iconrss icon

 Get The Latest By Email

Weekly Magazine Daily Inspiration

Thursday, 15 April 2021 07:13

As a species, humans are wired to collaborate. That’s why lockdowns and remote work have felt difficult for many of us during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sunday, 16 May 2021 14:24

The human body is an amazing thing, full of systems, organs, nerves, and vessels that work together in harmony. You’ve seen the body described as a machine, as a city, or even as a factory....

Wednesday, 28 April 2021 08:51

Insects are attracted to landscapes where flowering plants of the same species are grouped together and create big blocks of color, according to new research.

Wednesday, 12 May 2021 08:30

In 2019, Burger King Sweden released a plant-based burger, the Rebel Whopper, and the reaction was underwhelming. So, the company challenged its customers to taste the difference.

Wednesday, 05 May 2021 08:15

While our immune system and antibiotics both do a great job of helping us fight life-threatening infections, the emergence of antibiotic resistance is quickly making it more difficult to cure...

Saturday, 15 May 2021 16:24

There exist several approaches to obtaining optimal health, all of them important, each of them acting in some way on all the aspects of our beings. I know that if a technique were valid for...

New Attitudes - New Possibilities

InnerSelf.comClimateImpactNews.com | InnerPower.net
MightyNatural.com | WholisticPolitics.com | InnerSelf Market
Copyright ©1985 - 2021 InnerSelf Publications. All Rights Reserved.