Rats on the Field: A Study in Animal Cognition

Reported by Jayden Forsyth

Illustrated by Mia Baukol

Soccer, with complex demands of teamwork, coordination, and quick thinking, is challenging for any prospective player to master. However, Dr. Earnest Kim, a psychology professor at George Fox University, is taking this challenge to a new level—by teaching the intricacies of soccer to rats.

This innovative experiment seeks to study the limits of animal cognition while engaging students in the process. By the end of the semester, a full rat soccer game is to take place, and preliminary games may have already occurred.

The game format is straightforward: two rats, each representing opposing teams, compete to push a small ball into the opposing goal. While entertaining, the purpose of this activity extends beyond fun; Dr. Kim aims to achieve specific educational results. “My goal for the project was to provide an experiential learning environment to apply the principles of Pavlovian and instrumental conditioning in animals,” he explained.

Pavlovian conditioning, pioneered by Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov, involves learning through association. Typically, animals are rewarded with food for completing specific tasks, linking the action with the reward. This is the strategy Dr. Kim and his students use to train the rats. “The rats were trained in a step-by-step manner where they first associated the ball with food, then the ball in a net, and finally moving the ball toward the net from longer distances,” he noted. Throughout the semester, students have been actively training their assigned rats.

Dr. Kim is optimistic about the study and anticipates sharing the results soon. He hinted that “the results will be in a video,” suggesting that footage of the rat soccer game, along with analyses and observations, might be released.

Through this unique blend of psychology and animal behavior, Dr. Kim’s rat soccer project is not only pushing the boundaries of our understanding of animal cognition but also providing an engaging and hands-on learning experience for students at GFU.