Observational Learning and Social Facilitation in the Rat

• DOI: 10.1126/science.178.4066.1220
• Publication Date: 2006-10-05T14:03:38Z
• Authors: Thomas R. Zentall; John M. Levine
• Keywords: 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; 10. No inequality

Learning by rats was facilitated when response-relevant cues were provided by other rats; learning increased as a function of number of cues provided. These results suggest that rats can learn by imitation. Learning by rats that observed conspecifics not emitting response-relevant cues was retarded compared to learning by rats that did not observe conspecifics. This indicates that a conspecific's presence can also inhibit learning, a result consistent with social facilitation theory.