P2.19. MODES OF SOCIAL COOPERATION IN RATS PERFORMING A SEQUENTIAL SPATIAL MEMORY TASK
Ravindra Sahu1, Witold Żakowski2, Krzysztof Maćkiewicz1,2, Olga Polniak2, Johannes Niediek3, Rafał Czajkowski4, Ewelina Knapska5, John P. Aggleton6, Shane M. O’Mara7, Maciej M. Jankowski1
1 BioTechMed Center, Multimedia Systems Department, Faculty of Electronics, Telecommunications and Informatics, Gdansk University of Technology, Gdansk, Poland
2 Department of Animal and Human Physiology, Faculty of Biology, University of Gdansk, Gdansk, Poland
3 Machine Learning Group, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
4 Laboratory of Spatial Memory, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
5 Laboratory of Neurobiology of Emotions, Nencki-EMBL Partnership for Neural Plasticity and Brain Disorders–BRAINCITY, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology of Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland.
6 School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AT, United Kingdom
7 Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
INTRODUCTION: Animals often coexist in shared environments where individuals have a similar ability to freely alter the state of the surrounding world. In such contexts, social strategies directly affect success in acquiring resources, as a lack of cooperation may impede each other's actions.
AIM(S): Our Study aimed to examine modes of social cooperation in rats within an instrumental conditioning framework.
METHOD(S): To test social strategies in rat pairs, we developed an automated setup for a sequential spatial memory task. The open field (64 × 64 cm) features nine floor buttons (3 × 3 grid) and a single reward area. The system uses an Arduino and PC to manage switches, reward delivery, sounds, and LED cues. Rats (n = 16) were trained to memorize a three-button sequence and became experts. They were tested in 8 cagemate pairs (9 days), 112 unique intercage pairs (3 days each), 28 pairs with naïve cagemates, and 28 with naïve non-cagemates. Behavioral system data were combined with position tracking from video recordings processed using DeepLabCut, allowing us to determine each rat’s behavior.
RESULTS: Our data suggest that, despite individual task proficiency, cooperation in a social context is a distinct skill that rats must develop and refine to succeed in an environment with a single reward-dispensing area. We observed different modes of operation, including cooperation, temporal segregation, and conflicts, which were resolved in various ways. We evaluated the effects of conflict on dynamic changes in social strategies. Additionally, we examined whether rats, over time, generalized this social skill to perform the task effectively with different partners, and whether extended social experience influenced their individual performance in the same task.
CONCLUSIONS: Such testing may be useful for identifying individuals with reduced ability to operate in a social context during sequential instrumental tasks, and for studying social hierarchies emerging in an interactive, dynamic environment.
FINANCIAL SUPPORT: This work was supported by the National Science Centre and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 945339, Polonez Bis 3, project No. 2022/47/P/NZ4/03358; and by the Gdansk University of Technology, Platinum IDUB grant: 1/1/2024/IDUB/I.1B/Pt.