Lab mice might be doing their own experiments
New research suggests that mice base their decisions on more than just immediate reward. They may also make 'mistakes' on purpose.
By Lauren Leffer | Published Apr 26, 2024 11:00 AM EDT
It’s long been known that mice can be trained to perform simple tasks in exchange for a reward. Bribe a hungry mouse with a morsel of food or a thirsty mouse with a drop of water and you can encourage it to navigate a maze or click a particular button. But sometimes, mice don’t act as expected, failing to complete the task at hand. Often, researchers have dismissed these actions as simple mistakes, resulting from inattention or disengagement. Yet, a study published April 26 in the journal Current Biology suggests, there’s more going on: mice can understand the rules of a task and still deviate in their behaviors, potentially testing their own hypotheses and attempting to learn more about their surroundings.
“These mice have a richer internal life than we probably give them credit for. They are not just stimulus response machines. They may have things like strategies.”
