Thursday, January 16, 2014

Empathetic, pro-social behavior driven by social experience in rat mdoel

Empathy-driven behavior has been observed in rats who will free trapped companions from restrainers. This behavior also extends toward strangers, but requires prior, positive social interactions with the type (strain) of the unfamiliar individual, report scientists from the University of Chicago, in the open access journal eLife.The findings suggest that social experiences, not genetics or kin selection, determine whether an individual will help strangers out of empathy.

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