Mogil’s team fed mice with vinegar, which caused mild stomach ache for 30 minutes or so and made the mice wriggle in discomfort. When two mice that were strangers were given the vinegar, they did not wriggle very much, perhaps to avoid revealing vulnerability to a potential rival. However, cage-mates that had previously spent time together wriggled more, and seemed to synchronise their wriggles. The same happened in another test in which a chemical was used to cause mild inflammation in a paw (Science, vol 312, p 1967).
The researchers say that the mice had to see each other suffer for the effect to kick in, but that pheromones that enable recognition play a role too.
He stresses that the reactions shouldn’t be mistaken for sympathy, which requires consciousness of another’s suffering. “I don’t think consciousness is required at all for what we’re seeing,” says Mogil. Instead, the “empathy” is akin to collective yawning in humans. “It suggests that empathy goes further down the physiological tree than we* thought.”
* = Mogil’s team
Evil bastards.
Who, the deceptive mice, who deliberately misrepresent themselves to new acquaintances?
I thought the same thing! Funny how they assign intelligence to the mice in that instance, but not the other.
It’s not intelligence they’re assigning, just instinct : )