title: Limits on social influence on food choices of Norway rats.
abstract: We examined social influences on food choices of Norway rats choosing between pairs of diets that differed in their relative palatabilities. We found in two experiments that prior interaction with a demonstrator rat fed either a cayenne-flavoured diet (experiment 1) or a cinnamon-flavoured diet (experiment 2) significantly affected the observer rats' intake of their respective demonstrators' diets. However, as the amount of cayenne pepper in the cayenne-flavoured diet was increased, so that it became increasingly unpalatable relative to a cinnamon-flavoured alternative diet (experiment 1), the effects of demonstrator rats on their observers' intake of the cayenne-flavoured diet diminished. Similarly, as we added sugar to a cinnamon-flavoured diet, so that it became increasingly palatable relative to an alternative cocoa-flavoured diet (experiment 2), the effects of demonstrator rats on their observers' choices between the cinnamon- and cocoa-flavoured diets diminished. Taken together with findings in the literature, the present results suggest that the greater the difference in a subject's affective responses to two stimuli, the less the effect that social influences have on its responses to those stimuli. Copyright 1998 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, McMaster University
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Galef
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Whiskin