第1段：提出研究问题
动物依靠社交信号识别朋友和敌人，研究人员据此追问：老鼠能否从没有生命的机器鼠身上识别同类信号？
2020 · 英语（二）· Text 1
社交行为胜过逼真外形：老鼠也会回应机器人
实验发现，老鼠会根据机器鼠表现出的合作与互助行为，把外形极为简单的机器人当作社交对象并优先帮助它，这说明触发动物社交反应的关键可能是行为线索，而不是逼真的外形。
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第2段：介绍实验对象
八只成年老鼠与社交型、非社交型两类机器鼠共同生活；机器鼠外形简单，远不像真正的老鼠。
第3段：设置行为差异
社交型机器鼠会跟随、玩耍并帮助真老鼠逃脱，非社交型机器鼠则只进行机械式移动。
第4段：呈现实验结果与解释
真老鼠释放社交型机器鼠的概率显著更高。研究人员认为，社交行为使老鼠与机器人建立联系，并可能激活互惠预期。
第5段：用直接互惠解释行为
已有研究表明，老鼠会帮助曾经帮助过自己的同伴，这种直接互惠为本次实验结果提供了行为基础。
第6段：排除逼真外形的必要性
尽管机器鼠只像带轮子的塑料盒，老鼠仍愿意与之互动；研究人员原先设想的头尾、面部和气味等拟真特征都不是必要条件。
第7段：概括发现并扩展意义
老鼠对极简机器人发出的社交线索也很敏感，这与儿童把简单机器人视作同伴的倾向相似，说明机器人能够引发不同物种的社会性回应。
查看全文段间逻辑
文章按照“问题—设计—对照—结果—机制—排除替代解释—推广结论”展开。前两段提出问题并交代实验对象，第3段用两类机器鼠建立唯一关键差异：是否表现出社交行为。
第4、5段用释放概率和直接互惠解释老鼠为何偏向社交型机器人；第6段进一步排除“外形必须逼真”的假设。末段把结论从老鼠推广到儿童和人类，强调行为线索足以让结构简单的机器人被当作社交对象。
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第1段
Rats and other animals need to be highly attuned to social signals from others so they can identify friends to cooperate with and enemies to avoid. To find out if this extends to non-living beings, Laleh Quinn at the University of California, San Diego, and her colleagues tested whether rats can detect social signals from robotic rats.
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第2段
They housed eight adult rats with two types of robotic rat—one social and one asocial—for 5 days. The robot rats were quite minimalist, resembling a chunkier version of a computer mouse with wheels to move around and colourful markings.
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第3段
During the experiment, the social robot rat followed the living rats around, played 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.
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第4段
Next, 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 percent more likely on average to set the social robot free than the asocial one. This suggests that the rats perceived the social robot as a genuine social being. They may have bonded more with the social robot because it displayed behaviours like communal exploring and playing. This could lead to the rats better remembering having freed it earlier, and wanting the robot to return the favour when they get trapped, says Quinn.
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第5段
"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.
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第6段
The readiness of the rats to befriend the social robot was surprising given its minimal design. The robot was the same size as a regular rat but resembled a simple plastic box on wheels. "We'd assumed we'd have to give it a moving head and tail, facial features, and put a scent on it to make it smell like a real rat, but that wasn't necessary," says Janet Wiles at the University of Queensland in Australia, who helped with the research.
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第7段
The finding shows how sensitive rats are to social cues, even when they come from basic robots. Similarly, children tend to treat robots as if they are fellow beings, even when they display only simple social signals. "We humans seem to be fascinated by robots, and it turns out other animals are too," says Wiles.
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