Rats show direct reciprocity when interacting with multiple partners

Abstract Direct reciprocity, where individuals apply the decision rule ‘help someone who has helped you’, is believed to be rare in non-human animals due to its high cognitive demands. Especially if previous encounters with several partners need to be correctly remembered, animals might either stop...

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Autores principales:	Nina Kettler, Manon K. Schweinfurth, Michael Taborsky
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/565e13448b25473f8eaf5463e758caf9
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:565e13448b25473f8eaf5463e758caf92021-12-02T14:06:50ZRats show direct reciprocity when interacting with multiple partners10.1038/s41598-021-82526-42045-2322https://doaj.org/article/565e13448b25473f8eaf5463e758caf92021-02-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-82526-4https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Direct reciprocity, where individuals apply the decision rule ‘help someone who has helped you’, is believed to be rare in non-human animals due to its high cognitive demands. Especially if previous encounters with several partners need to be correctly remembered, animals might either stop reciprocating favours previously received from an individual, or switch to the simpler generalized reciprocity mechanism. Here we tested the decision rules Norway rats apply when interacting with multiple partners before being able to return received help. In a sequential prisoner’s dilemma situation, focal subjects encountered four different partners that were either helpful or not, on four consecutive days. On the fifth day, the focal subject was paired with one of the previous four partners and given the opportunity to provide it with food. The focal rats returned received help by closely matching the quantity of help their partner had previously provided, independently of the time delay between received and given help, and independently of the ultimate interaction preceding the test. This shows that direct reciprocity is not limited to dyadic situations in Norway rats, suggesting that cognitive demands involved in applying the required decision rules can be met by non-human animals even when they interact with multiple partners differing in helping propensity.Nina KettlerManon K. SchweinfurthMichael TaborskyNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-8 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Nina Kettler Manon K. Schweinfurth Michael Taborsky Rats show direct reciprocity when interacting with multiple partners
description	Abstract Direct reciprocity, where individuals apply the decision rule ‘help someone who has helped you’, is believed to be rare in non-human animals due to its high cognitive demands. Especially if previous encounters with several partners need to be correctly remembered, animals might either stop reciprocating favours previously received from an individual, or switch to the simpler generalized reciprocity mechanism. Here we tested the decision rules Norway rats apply when interacting with multiple partners before being able to return received help. In a sequential prisoner’s dilemma situation, focal subjects encountered four different partners that were either helpful or not, on four consecutive days. On the fifth day, the focal subject was paired with one of the previous four partners and given the opportunity to provide it with food. The focal rats returned received help by closely matching the quantity of help their partner had previously provided, independently of the time delay between received and given help, and independently of the ultimate interaction preceding the test. This shows that direct reciprocity is not limited to dyadic situations in Norway rats, suggesting that cognitive demands involved in applying the required decision rules can be met by non-human animals even when they interact with multiple partners differing in helping propensity.
format	article
author	Nina Kettler Manon K. Schweinfurth Michael Taborsky
author_facet	Nina Kettler Manon K. Schweinfurth Michael Taborsky
author_sort	Nina Kettler
title	Rats show direct reciprocity when interacting with multiple partners
title_short	Rats show direct reciprocity when interacting with multiple partners
title_full	Rats show direct reciprocity when interacting with multiple partners
title_fullStr	Rats show direct reciprocity when interacting with multiple partners
title_full_unstemmed	Rats show direct reciprocity when interacting with multiple partners
title_sort	rats show direct reciprocity when interacting with multiple partners
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/565e13448b25473f8eaf5463e758caf9
work_keys_str_mv	AT ninakettler ratsshowdirectreciprocitywheninteractingwithmultiplepartners AT manonkschweinfurth ratsshowdirectreciprocitywheninteractingwithmultiplepartners AT michaeltaborsky ratsshowdirectreciprocitywheninteractingwithmultiplepartners
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Rats show direct reciprocity when interacting with multiple partners

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