Oxytocin administration modulates rats’ helping behavior depending on social context

Yamagishi, Atsuhito; Okada, Maya; Masuda, Masatoshi; Sato, Nobuya

doi:10.1016/j.neures.2019.04.001

Cited by 25 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…Further, oxytocin, a hormone linked to empathy and prosocial behavior ( Stetzik et al, 2018 ), has been shown to facilitate learning with social feedback ( Hu et al, 2015 ). Interestingly, the administration of oxytocin improves helping behavior in rats, and this effect is dependent on social context ( Yamagishi et al, 2019 ). Thus, it is possible that the protocol of releasing behavior, projected to model empathy in rodents, involves a complex relationship between empathy and social facilitation of learning the task of opening the restraining box.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In conclusion, there are multiple factors involved in the motivation to the opening behavior in the protocol proposed by Ben-Ami Bartal et al (2011) and used in the present study. This outcome is relevant as there is an increasing number of studies that used the original or modified versions of the releasing task with the purpose of studying empathy or prosocial behavior in rodents ( Ben-Ami Bartal et al, 2014 , 2016 ; Silberberg et al, 2014 ; Hachiga et al, 2018 ; Kandis et al, 2018 ; Karakilic et al, 2018 ; Fontes-Dutra et al, 2019 ; Yamagishi et al, 2019 ). Our study provided data that ruled out the desire for social contact or the exploration of the restraint box as key motivators, at least under our experimental conditions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Are There Multiple Motivators for Helping Behavior in Rats?

Silva

Lima

et al. 2020

Front. Psychol.

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Empathy is the ability to (a) be affected by and share the emotional state of another; (b) assess the reasons for the other’s state; and (c) identify with the other, adopting their perspective. This phenomenon has been shown to exist in several species and is proposed as a motivator for prosocial behavior. The experimental study of this feature in laboratory rodents is a more viable alternative in comparison to wild animals. A recent report showed that rats opened a door to free their cage mate from a restraint box. Although this behavior has been suggested to be motivated by empathy, this fact has been questioned by several studies that proposed other motivators for the releasing behavior. In the present study, we use an adaptation of the protocol of releasing behavior to investigate aspects of empathy and pro-sociality such as familiarity and reciprocity. In addition, we addressed some potential motivational factors that could influence this behavior. The main results showed that (1) rats opened the restraint box to free conspecifics most of the time; (2) direct reciprocity or past restriction experience did not improve releasing performance, probably due to a ceiling effect; (3) after a series of trials in the presence of a restricted conspecific, the free rat continues to open the restraint box even if it is empty; (4) in general, the opening performance improves across trials and phases, resembling learning curves; (5) if the first series of trials occurs with the empty box, the opening behavior does not occur and is modest in subsequent trials with a trapped animal; (6) the exploratory drive toward the restraint box and desire for social contact do not seem to function as key motivators for releasing behavior. In conclusion, our findings do not support that the opening behavior is exclusively related to empathic motivation. While multiple factors might be involved, our study suggests that task learning triggered (and possibly reinforced) by the presence of the restricted rat can function as a motivator. Further investigations are required to fully understand the mechanisms and motivation factors guiding the releasing behavior.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are There Multiple Motivators for Helping Behavior in Rats?

Silva

Lima

et al. 2020

Front. Psychol.

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“…The existence of empathy has been suggested in a variety of species, including non-human primates (Campbell and de Waal, 2011; Koski and Sterck, 2010; Pruetz, 2011), dogs (Palagi et al, 2015), birds (Gallup et al, 2015), and even rodents (Bartal et al, 2011; Bartal et al, 2016; Sato et al, 2015). Several studies have examined empathy in rodents using behavioral indicators, such as vicarious learning of fear (Atsak et al, 2011; Pisansky et al, 2017) and helping behavior like releasing others from a distressed situation (Bartal et al, 2011; Bartal et al, 2016; Sato et al, 2015; Yamagishi et al, 2019; Yamagishi et al, 2020). However, understanding of empathy in rodents is still inadequate.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Helping behavior has been observed in animals that are considered to be highly intelligent, such as chimpanzees (Pruetz, 2011; Yamamoto et al, 2012), elephants (Schulte, 2000), and dolphins (Kuczaj et al, 2015). Recent studies suggest that rats also demonstrate helping behavior toward distressed conspecifics, such as in a narrow tube (Bartal et al, 2011; Bartal et al, 2016) and in water (Sato et al, 2015; Yamagishi et al, 2019; Yamagishi et al, 2020). Detecting others’ distress is a prerequisite for helping behavior (Cronin, 2012; Decety et al, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several studies have reported that oxytocin and oxytocin receptors in rodents affect sociality, including affiliative behavior, social cognition, and empathic response (Bartz et al, 2010; Marlin and Froemke, 2017; Rogers-Carter et al, 2018; Ross and Young, 2009; Winslow and Insel, 2002; Young and Barrett, 2015). The role of oxytocin in helping behavior is largely unexamined except in studies that examined the effect of oxytocin administration and of blocking of oxytocin receptors in rats (Yamagishi et al, 2020; Yamagishi et al, 2019). In this study, we examined the effects of oxytocin on helping behavior using oxytocin receptor knockout (OXTrKO) voles.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Helping Behavior in Prairie Voles: A Model of Empathy and the Importance of Oxytocin

Kitano

Yamagishi

Horie

et al. 2020

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Accumulated evidence across animals suggests that helping behavior is triggered by empathy. We examined whether prairie voles, one of the more highly social animals, help conspecifics who are soaked in water by opening a door to a safe area. Door-opening latency decreased as task sessions progressed, suggesting that prairie voles learn helping behavior. In addition, when the conspecific was not soaked in water, the latency of the door-opening did not decrease, suggesting that the distress of the conspecific is necessary for the learning of the door-opening. Thus, the door-opening behavior in prairie voles can be considered a helping behavior that is motivated by empathy for the distress of conspecifics. We also examined the helping behavior in prairie voles in which oxytocin receptors were genetically knocked out. Oxytocin receptor knockout voles demonstrated impaired learning of the door-opening. This suggests that oxytocin is important for the emergence of helping behavior.

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