Increased reliance on socially acquired information while foraging in risky situations?

We undertook three experiments to investigate the hypothesis that as the potential costs of individual learning increase, reliance on social learning also increases. We found no effect of indirect cues of predation risk on use of previously acquired social information by Norway rats, Rattus norvegicus, choosing between unfamiliar foods (experiment 1). We also found decreased (not increased) use of socially acquired information by rats choosing …