article_snippet.sent: The experts wanted to find out whether the rodents do this as a reflex reaction, or to communicate The experts discomfort to others.
article_snippet.sent: The scientists first took photographs of rats who were in pain and others with neutral expressions.
article_snippet.sent: Long-Evans rats are described as ‘naive’ in the study, published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, and were between eight and 12 months old.
article_snippet.sent: Individuals were put into a cage composed of three interconnecting rooms, one of which had images of a rat in pain, which had been given an electric shock.
article_snippet.sent: the photos in a specially made cage (pictured).
article_snippet.sent: people entered one-by-one through a central compartment without any images on the walls and made people way to a compartment off the central room with pictures of pained rats on the walls and another offshoot room with photos of happier rats on the walls.
article_snippet.sent: Each rat was allowed to wander freely around the cage for 10 minutes while the researchers recorded how long Each rat spent in each room.
article_snippet.sent: the researchers found that rats spent more time in the rooms where the researchers didn’t have to confront the image of a rat in pain. '
article_snippet.sent: …rats stayed longer in a central compartment without any images on the walls with the images of neutral expressions than in that with the images of pain expressions,’ the study says.
article_snippet.sent: On average, rats spent one minute less in the central room, than the compartment showing a rat with a neutral expression.
highlights_snippet.sent: Researchers  in Tokyo placed rats in a  cage with three compartments .
  
highlights_snippet.sent: One room showed photos of rats in pain, and another with neutral faces .
  
highlights_snippet.sent: Rats spent more time in the 'neutral' room suggesting Rats recognise fear .
  