Interaction of social and individual learning in food preferences of Norway rats

We conducted four experiments to examine the effects of individual experience of postingestive consequences of eating foods on the longevity of Norway rats', Rattus norvegicus, socially enhanced food preferences. The results of these experiments showed that: (1) waning of a socially enhanced food preference resulted from experience of postingestive consequences of foods, (2) time available each day to sample foods affected the rate at which a socially enhanced food preference waned, (3) the relative value of a food for which enhanced preference had been socially induced and of alternative foods markedly affected the rate at which socially enhanced preferences waned, and (4) experience of a food and its alternatives after social enhancement of a food preference had a significantly greater effect on the rate at which the socially enhanced preference waned than similar exposure to the same foods before social enhancement of a preference. These results are consistent with the view that social learning acts primarily to introduce behaviour into an individual's repertoire and experience of the consequences of engaging in a socially learned behaviour and its alternatives determines the persistence of the socially learned behaviour. (C) 2001 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.