Passage of time reduces effects of familiarity on social learning: functional implications

Abstract. Previous experiments have shown that, after a rat Rattus norvegicus has eaten a food for several days, it is resistant to social induction of a preference for that food. The present experiments demonstrate that this inhibiting effect of individual experience of a food on social induction of preference for that food is transitory. Seven days after rats had last eaten a food, they exhibited socially induced preferences for that food as …