AbstractThis chapter begins with a brief review of the literature on social influences on food choices of Norway rats. It describes fieldwork strongly suggesting that interactions between adult free-living rats and their young can determine which foods the young come to eat. It then describes several behavioral processes that have been shown in the laboratory to be sufficient to influence food choice in young rats. Finally, it discusses a type of social influence on rats' food preferences that has already proved to be useful in studies of the physical substrates of learning and memory.
