Murphy Robin A, Mondragón Esther, Murphy Victoria A
Department of Psychology, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK.
Science. 2008 Mar 28;319(5871):1849-51. doi: 10.1126/science.1151564.
Using rules extracted from experience to solve problems in novel situations involves cognitions such as analogical reasoning and language learning and is considered a keystone of humans' unique abilities. Nonprimates, it has been argued, lack such rule transfer. We report that Rattus norvegicus can learn simple rules and apply them to new situations. Rats learned that sequences of stimuli consistent with a rule (such as XYX) were different from other sequences (such as XXY or YXX). When novel stimuli were used to construct sequences that did or did not obey the previously learned rule, rats transferred their learning. Therefore, rats, like humans, can transfer structural knowledge from sequential experiences.
运用从经验中提取的规则来解决新情况下的问题涉及类比推理和语言学习等认知过程，被认为是人类独特能力的关键所在。有人认为，非灵长类动物缺乏这种规则迁移能力。我们报告称，褐家鼠能够学习简单规则并将其应用于新情况。大鼠学会了与规则（如XYX）一致的刺激序列与其他序列（如XXY或YXX）不同。当使用新刺激构建符合或不符合先前学习规则的序列时，大鼠能够迁移它们所学的知识。因此，大鼠和人类一样，能够从序列经验中迁移结构知识。
