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. 2021 Nov;17(11):20210355.
doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2021.0355. Epub 2021 Nov 17.

An opinion on the interpretation of social release in rats

M H Blystad  1   2
Affiliations

An opinion on the interpretation of social release in rats

M H Blystad. Biol Lett. 2021 Nov.

Abstract

This commentary concerns a controversial animal model in rodent social release research wherein one rat releases another rat from entrapment in a plastic tube. Release from the plastic tube has been proposed as a model to study empathically motivated behaviour. However, empathic motivations have been contested by others who have provided evidence for social reinforcement motivating release behaviour. Furthermore, helping, or other forms of pro-social behaviour could exist independent of empathy or empathetic motivation and the stimuli occasioning this helping behaviour are not known. In addition, there is a dearth in the citations of published studies whose results fail to support this model. In other words, the controversial aspect of the rodent social release model is often overlooked. This controversy is described in the current opinion piece.

Keywords: citation bias; empathy; pro-social behaviour; rat.

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