An Exploration of Individual and Collective Reversal Learning in Rats.

Abstract

Although associative learning research has been conducted for more than a century, little is known about learning processes when subjects are not alone, but in a group-a phenomenon termed collective learning. In collective learning situations, the behavior of conspecifics may serve as an associative cue for learning, like any other stimulus during individual learning. Two experiments investigated how individual versus collective training affects associative learning. Experiment 1 utilized a simultaneous discrimination task, whereas Experiment 2 implemented a serial go/no-go discrimination task. In both experiments, rats were trained either individually or collectively, exposing them to two distinct stimuli with only one of them signaling the availability of food reinforcement. Following acquisition training, all rats were tested both individually and collectively. Contingencies were then reversed: the previously nonreinforced stimulus now signaled the availability of food, and the previously reinforced stimulus now signaled the absence of food. Following reversal training, the rats were again tested individually and collectively. Results from both experiments suggest that the training condition (individual or collective) had little effect on learning the cue-outcome association. However, individual training negatively affected test performance in a collective context. These results suggest that collective training may have a facilitative effect on learning and points out key methodological considerations for more in-depth examination of this effect.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40614-025-00450-8.