Choleris E, Guo C, Liu H, Mainardi M, Valsecchi P
Dipartimento di Biologia Evolutiva e Funzionale, Università di Parma, Viale delle Scienze, 43100 Parma, Italy.
Behav Processes. 1997 Oct;41(1):69-77. doi: 10.1016/s0376-6357(97)00029-6.
Present research was undertaken to investigate whether the transfer of food preference from a demonstrator mouse to an observer can be influenced by their relative age. In experiment 1 an adult female mouse, the observer, was allowed to interact with a recently-fed demonstrator which was a pup of her litter or an adult female mouse. The observer was then tested to assess whether it acquired a preference for the demonstrator's diet. The results showed that a pup demonstrator's influence on an adult's food preference is shorter-lasting than an adult demonstrator's influence. Experiment 2 was aimed to investigate whether many demonstrators have an additive effect in influencing their observer's choice. The results indicated that multiple pup demonstrations do not increase longevity of food preferences induced by pup demonstrators. Moreover, the longevity of an adult observer's preference for its demonstrator's food is reduced by the exposure to multiple adult demonstrators. Results are discussed in terms of demonstrator's reliability and of social constraints that could affect social transfer of food information in the house mouse.
本研究旨在调查从示范小鼠到观察小鼠的食物偏好转移是否会受到它们相对年龄的影响。在实验1中，一只成年雌性小鼠（观察者）被允许与一只刚进食的示范小鼠互动，示范小鼠要么是它同一窝的幼崽，要么是一只成年雌性小鼠。然后对观察者进行测试，以评估它是否获得了对示范小鼠饮食的偏好。结果表明，幼崽示范小鼠对成年小鼠食物偏好的影响持续时间比成年示范小鼠的影响更短。实验2旨在调查多个示范小鼠在影响其观察者的选择方面是否具有累加效应。结果表明，多个幼崽示范并不会增加幼崽示范小鼠诱导的食物偏好的持续时间。此外，成年观察者对其示范小鼠食物的偏好持续时间会因接触多个成年示范小鼠而缩短。研究结果从示范小鼠的可靠性以及可能影响家鼠食物信息社会传递的社会限制方面进行了讨论。
