Help behaviors in rats: Action or habit?

Abstract

In recent years, several authors have used rodent models to study empathy. In particular, it has been suggested that helping behavior in rats is motivated by empathic reasons. Although several authors support such perspective, some researchers have pointed out to inconsistent data. For example, if the mechanism underlying helping behavior is empathy, rats would perform that behavior only to end the distress in another rat. However, it has been observed that rats perform helping behavior even when that behavior does not work. One experiment with rats was conducted to explore whether the amount of training impairs the goaldirect component of the helping behavior. An experimental task that involved a free rat releasing a trapped rat in a restrainer was used. Group Short learned to open the restrainer for few sessions, whereas rats in Group Long opened the restrainer for an extensive period. Finally, both groups received a generalization test with an empty restrainer. Rats in Group Short did not open the restrainer during testing, while rats in Group Long did it. The role of habits in pro-social behaviors is discussed.