Nagano Akane
Laboratory for Imagination and Executive Functions, RIKEN Center for Brain Science, Wako, Japan.
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Chiyoda-ku, Japan.
Front Psychol. 2022 Jul 13;13:931957. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.931957. eCollection 2022.
In recent times, previous studies have reported the manipulation of tools by rats and degus in controlled experimental settings. However, a previous study reported that only one out of eight experimentally naïve rats could manipulate a rake-shaped tool according to the position of a food reward without prior experience of obtaining the reward with the tool before the test. The present study aimed to improve the training of rats and investigate rodents' ability to manipulate tools according to food position. Stricter criteria were employed when training the rats to promote the rats' monitoring of their own tool manipulation. Additional training was introduced to give them the opportunity to learn that the reward moved closer to them by pulling an object connected to the reward. The present study showed that only one of eight rats could manipulate a tool according to the position of the reward without prior experience of obtaining the reward with the tool or perceiving that part of the tool came in contact with the reward, as the previous study showed. The change in training did not enhance the rats' tool-manipulation ability according to the food position. These procedures should be conducted in a wider variety of animals to investigate whether the training in motion control can promote the subjects' effective tool-use behavior.
最近，先前的研究报道了大鼠和八齿鼠在受控实验环境中对工具的操控。然而，一项先前的研究报告称，在没有在测试前用工具获取奖励的先验经验的情况下，八只未经实验训练的大鼠中只有一只能够根据食物奖励的位置操控耙形工具。本研究旨在改进对大鼠的训练，并研究啮齿动物根据食物位置操控工具的能力。在训练大鼠时采用了更严格的标准，以促进大鼠对自身工具操控的监测。引入了额外的训练，让它们有机会了解通过拉动与奖励相连的物体，奖励会向它们靠近。本研究表明，正如先前的研究所示，八只大鼠中只有一只能够在没有用工具获取奖励的先验经验或感知到工具的一部分与奖励接触的情况下，根据奖励的位置操控工具。训练的改变并没有提高大鼠根据食物位置进行工具操控的能力。这些程序应该在更多种类的动物中进行，以研究运动控制训练是否能促进受试者有效的工具使用行为。
