A Game That Made Rats Jump for Joy
theatlantic.com
A Game That Made Rats Jump for Joy
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Re: A Game That Made Rats Jump for Joy
#2> How does the animal decide where it wants to seek, or whether it wants to hide? Or what happens when it’s surprised? When it thinks it knows where the experimenter is, what happens in its brain when she isn’t there?
These questions at the end really made me a whole lot more interested in this topic.
And it's interesting to note that she's awarding them with tickles, not food. Could it be why the rats found it to be a more "fun" activity? Would they be having fun or would they become more competitive if rewarded with food instead?
Re: A Game That Made Rats Jump for Joy
#3> How does the animal decide where it wants to seek, or whether it wants to hide? Or what happens when it’s surprised? When it thinks it knows where the experimenter is, what happens in its brain when she isn’t there? These questions at the end really made me a whole lot more interested in this topic. And it's interesting to note that she's awarding them with tickles, not food. Could it be why the rats found it to be…
My understanding from the article is that this activity is more natural and social to them then other tasks like solving visual puzzles, playing "video games". So maybe is similar on people playing with their dogs, the animal enjoys the activity and does not need food rewards.
Re: A Game That Made Rats Jump for Joy
#4Rats are very good at spatial perception, orientation, and manipulation. I have seen them rival really smart dogs in that respect. They certainly also know how to look at the actions of others (humans, rats, whatever) and model their own behavior accordingly.
So this would be right up their alley, and I'm sure everybody's had marvellous fun, another thing of which rats are eminently capable.
Re: A Game That Made Rats Jump for Joy
#5That's an exciting, new discovery that I hope won't find its application in places like whatever department does behavioural design at Facebook, game developers, marketers to make products more addictive ... kind of like when they found out that rats go crazy with irregular rewards :)
Re: A Game That Made Rats Jump for Joy
#6> How does the animal decide where it wants to seek, or whether it wants to hide? Or what happens when it’s surprised? When it thinks it knows where the experimenter is, what happens in its brain when she isn’t there? These questions at the end really made me a whole lot more interested in this topic. And it's interesting to note that she's awarding them with tickles, not food. Could it be why the rats found it to be…
It's hard to tell if there is a clear distinction between social/"fun" and food rewards.
Experiments have shown an "anti-freeloading" effect in most species, except cats: Within reason, a reward for work is preferable over the same reward for no work.
I also don't think cats care specifically whether or not their fun and playing leads to food or not. It just happens that their idea of fun would lead to discovering and killing small animals in a natural setting. Maybe they hunt because it's fun, not just because they are hungry.
Re: A Game That Made Rats Jump for Joy
#7That's an exciting, new discovery that I hope won't find its application in places like whatever department does behavioural design at Facebook, game developers, marketers to make products more addictive ... kind of like when they found out that rats go crazy with irregular rewards :)
Startup idea: Remotely activated tickling devices.
Re: A Game That Made Rats Jump for Joy
#8Rats are very good at spatial perception, orientation, and manipulation. I have seen them rival really smart dogs in that respect. They certainly also know how to look at the actions of others (humans, rats, whatever) and model their own behavior accordingly. So this would be right up their alley, and I'm sure everybody's had marvellous fun, another thing of which rats are eminently capable.
I'm sure the rats would have preferred to do this without implanted electrodes...
Re: A Game That Made Rats Jump for Joy
#9That's an exciting, new discovery that I hope won't find its application in places like whatever department does behavioural design at Facebook, game developers, marketers to make products more addictive ... kind of like when they found out that rats go crazy with irregular rewards :)
Addictive free to plays games being actually fun seems like an improvement in a way.
Re: A Game That Made Rats Jump for Joy
#10This article has videos:
https://gizmodo.com/scientists-taught-rats-to-play-hide-and-...