Rats were given repeated choices between social and nonsocial outcomes, and between familiar and unfamiliar social outcomes. Lever presses on either of 2 levers in the middle chamber of a 3-chamber apparatus opened a door adjacent to the lever, permitting 45-s access to social interaction with the rat in the chosen side chamber. In Experiment 1, rats preferred (a) social over nonsocial options, choosing their cagemate rat over an empty chamber, and (b) an unfamiliar over a familiar rat, choosing a non-cagemate over their cagemate. These findings were replicated in Experiment 2 with 2 different non-cagemate rats. Rats preferred both non-cagemate rats to a similar degree when pitted against their cagemate, but were indifferent when the 2 non-cagemates were pitted against each other. Similar preference for social over nonsocial and non-cagemate over cagemate was seen in Experiment 3, with new non-cagemate rats introduced after every third session. Response rates (for both cagemate and non-cagemate rats) were elevated under conditions of nonsocial (isolated) housing compared to conditions of social (paired) housing, demonstrating a social deprivation effect. Together, the experiments contribute to an experimental analysis of social preference within a social reinforcement framework, drawing on methods with proven efficacy in the analysis of reinforcement more generally.

中文翻译：

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大鼠的社会偏好

大鼠在社会和非社会结果之间以及熟悉和不熟悉的社会结果之间反复选择。杠杆按下 3 腔装置中间腔室中的 2 个杠杆中的任何一个，打开了靠近杠杆的一扇门，允许在 45 秒内与所选侧腔中的大鼠进行社交互动。在实验 1 中，老鼠更喜欢 (a) 社交而不是非社交选项，选择笼中的老鼠而不是空房间，和 (b) 不熟悉的老鼠而不是熟悉的老鼠，选择非笼中的老鼠而不是笼中的伴侣。这些发现在实验 2 中用 2 只不同的非笼养大鼠重复。大鼠在与它们的同笼伴侣进行对战时，以相似的程度偏爱两只非同笼大鼠，但当两只非同笼大鼠相互对战时则无动于衷。在实验 3 中观察到类似的社交偏好优于非社交和非笼养而不是笼养，每三次会议后引入新的非笼养大鼠。与社会（成对）住房条件相比，非社会（隔离）住房条件下的反应率（对于笼子和非笼子大鼠）均有所提高，这表明了社会剥夺效应。总之，这些实验有助于在社会强化框架内对社会偏好进行实验分析，利用在更普遍的强化分析中证明有效的方法。与社会（成对）住房条件相比，非社会（隔离）住房条件下的反应率（对于笼子和非笼子大鼠）均有所提高，这表明了社会剥夺效应。总之，这些实验有助于在社会强化框架内对社会偏好进行实验分析，利用在更普遍的强化分析中证明有效的方法。与社会（成对）住房条件相比，非社会（隔离）住房条件下的反应率（对于笼子和非笼子大鼠）均有所提高，这表明了社会剥夺效应。总之，这些实验有助于在社会强化框架内对社会偏好进行实验分析，利用在更普遍的强化分析中证明有效的方法。