Center for Cognition and Sociality, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Daejeon, 34141, Korea.
IBS School, University of Science and Technology, Daejeon, 34141, Korea.
Nat Commun. 2017 Nov 7;8(1):1176. doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-01091-5.
Disorderly resolution of conflict is costly, whereas orderly resolution by consent rules enables quick settlement. However, it is unclear whether non-human animals can make and observe rules to resolve conflict without aggression. Here we report a new behavioral paradigm for mice: a modified two-armed maze that uses wireless electrical brain stimulation as reward. First, the mice were individually operant-trained to initiate and then receive the reward at the signaled arm. Next, two mice were coupled and had to cooperate to initiate reward but then to compete over reward allocation. Mice develop and observe a rule of reward zone allocation that increases the total amount of reward and reward equity between the pair. In the mutual rule-observance behavior, positive reciprocity and tolerance to the other's violation are also observed. These findings suggest that rodents can learn to make and observe rules to resolve conflict, enhancing long-term benefit and payoff equity.
冲突的无序解决代价高昂，而通过同意规则进行有序解决则可以实现快速解决。然而，目前尚不清楚非人类动物是否可以在没有攻击性的情况下制定和遵守规则来解决冲突。在这里，我们为小鼠报告了一种新的行为范式：一种经过改良的双臂迷宫，使用无线电脑刺激作为奖励。首先，将小鼠单独进行操作性训练，以在信号臂上发起并接收奖励。接下来，将两只老鼠配对，它们必须合作发起奖励，但随后要争夺奖励分配。老鼠会制定并遵守奖励区域分配规则，从而增加了两只老鼠之间的总奖励和奖励公平性。在相互遵守规则的行为中，还观察到了积极的互惠和对对方违规的容忍。这些发现表明，啮齿动物可以学习制定和遵守规则来解决冲突，从而提高长期利益和收益公平性。
