2020年英语（1 / 2）
Rats and other animals o be highly attuo social signals from others so they identify friends to cooperate with and eo avoid.To find out if this extends to non-living beings, Laleh Quinn at the Uy of California, San Diego, and her colleagues tested whether rats detect social signals from robotic rats.
老鼠等动物必须要对同类发出的社交信号高度敏感，这样它们才能分辨哪些是可以合作的朋友，哪些是应该避开的敌人。为弄清这一敏感性在面对非生命体时是否仍适用，加州大学圣地亚哥分校的拉蕾·奎因及其同事进行了一项试验，观察老鼠是否能够感知机器鼠发出的社交信号。
They housed eight adult rats with two types of robotic rat—one social and one asocial—for four days.The robot rats were quite minimalist, resembling a kier version of a puter mouse with wheels to move around and colourful markings.
研究人员让8只成年鼠与2只不同类型的机器鼠——一只爱社交，一只不合群一共处一室4天。这两只机器鼠外形相当简约抽象，就像矮胖版的电脑鼠标，靠轮子四处移动，带有鲜艳的标记。
During the experiment, the social robot rat followed the living rats around, pyed with the same toys, and opened cage doors to let trapped rats escape. Meanwhile, the asocial robot simply moved forwards and backwards and side to side.
在试验过程中，社交机器鼠跟随生物鼠们四处走动，玩同样的玩具，还会打开笼门让被困老鼠逃脱。在此期间，非社交机器鼠则只是前后、左右来回移动。
, the researchers trapped the robots in cages and gave the rats the opportunity to release them by pressing a lever.Across 18 trials each, the living rats were 52 per t more likely on average to set the social robot free than the asocial ohis suggests that the rats perceived the social robot as a genuine social being, says Quinn. The rats may have bonded more with the social robot because it dispyed behaviors like unal expl and pying. This could lead to the rats better remembering having freed it earlier, and wanting the robot to return the favour when they get trapped, she says .
接下来，研究人员将机器鼠关进笼子，并给老鼠一个按下控制杆解救机器鼠的机会。在对每只(生物鼠)各18次的试验中，生物鼠解救社交机器鼠的几率比解救非社交机器鼠的几率平均高出52%。这表明老鼠将社交机器鼠看作了真正的社交生物。它们可能因先前社交机器鼠表现出集体探险及游戏等行为而与其建立了更强的情感纽带。奎因称，这可能会使老鼠们更清楚记起自己之前曾经解救过机器鼠，并希望自己受困时能得到它相应的回报。
“Rats have been shown to engage in multiple forms of reciprocal help and cooperation, including what is referred to as direct reciprocity where a rat will help another rat that has previously helped them,” says Quinn.
“已有研究表明，老鼠会进行多种形式的互助及合作，其中包括被称为‘直接互惠’的行为，即老鼠会帮助之前曾帮助过自己的另一只老鼠。”奎因说道。
The readiness of the rats to befriend the social robot was surprising given its minimal design.The robot was the same size as a regur rat but resembled a simple pstic box on wheels. “ We’d assumed we’d have to give it a moving head and tail, facial features, and put a st on it to make it smell like a real rat, but that wasn’t necessary,”says Ja Wiles at the Uy of Queensnd in Australia, who helped with the research.
出人意料的是，这只社交机器鼠设计如此简陋，老鼠却仍愿意与它交朋友。机器鼠虽与普通老鼠大小相当，外形却像一个带轮子的简易塑料盒。“我们原以为必须给它加上活动的头和尾巴，面部特征和以假乱真的老鼠气味才行，但结果证明没有必要。”澳大利亚昆士兰大学的珍妮特·怀尔斯说道，她协助了此项研究。
The finding shows how sensitive rats are to social cues, evehey e from basic robots. says Wiles. Simirly, childreo treat robots as if they are fellow beings, evehey dispy only simple social signals. “We humao be fasated by robots, and it turns out other animals are too,” says Wiles.