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June 16, 2006 - Rats, like humans, contemplate problems by carefully weighing the costs and benefits of a situation before making decisions, according to a new study on Wistar rats, a rodent developed for research. The study is the first to demonstrate that a non-human animal creates a desired ratio, or standard, to decide between options requiring varying levels of effort and that yield different rewards. A person buying a new car, for example, must weigh the cost and the effort needed to make payments versus the value of the car. Rats, and likely all rodents, do something similar, only under a lot more pressure. "In its natural habitat, rats are facing the problem that little is under their control, so they are facing various levels and forms of uncertainty all the time," said Ruud van den Bos, who led the research. "For instance, the quality and amount of food items at patches varies over time and between different patches, thus benefits are not always the same."