FURTHER ANALYSIS OF A CASE OF SOCIAL-LEARNING IN THE HOUSE MOUSE (MUS-DOMESTICUS)

Groups of experimentally naive Swiss mice, 20 days old, were exposed t o a varying quality of socially transmitted information needed to solv e a food-finding problem. The problem consisted of opening a rotating door of an apparatus. Mice that lived with a demonstrator opening the apparatus and mice that lived with an adult manipulating but not openi ng the apparatus were the most efficient animals in solving the proble m. In addition other groups of mice had different non-social experienc es with the problem. The data indicate that these animals did not impr ove their ability in performing the task compared with control animals . In essence the present results suggest that mice were capable of lea rning aspects of the opening techinque by social learning rather than by trial and error.