Observational learning of duration discrimination in rats (Rattus norvegicus)

Hungry 'observer' rats watched at trained conspecific 'demonstrators' performing a duration discrimination (1 vs. 8 s sound) before being themselves exposed to the same task. Performance of 'observer' rats was compared with that of naive control rats who learned the same task without observing a demonstrator. Statistical analysis showed that observing a trained demonstrator significantly contributed to the rapid discovery of the relationship between a particular duration and its related response patterns or stimuli, increasing learning speed with regard to the control animals. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.