The effect of observing trained conspecifics on the performance and motivation of goldfish, Carassius auratus, in a spatial task

• Published in: Behavioural processes Vol. 217; p. 105021
• Main Authors: Blane, James C., Holland, Richard A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01.04.2024
• Subjects: Animals; Behavior, Animal - physiology; Carassius auratus; Cognition; Cognitive maps; conspecificity; Fish; fish behavior; goldfish; Goldfish - physiology; Male; Maze Learning - physiology; motivation; Motivation - physiology; Reward; Social Behavior; Social learning; Social Learning - physiology; spatial data; Spatial memory; Cognitive maps; Fish; Carassius auratus; Social learning; Cognition; Spatial memory
• ISSN: 0376-6357; 1872-8308; 1872-8308
• DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2024.105021

Spatial and social cognition are two aspects of fish behaviour that have been subject to an increasing amount of research in recent years, but few have investigated potential behaviour overlaps. Testing the ability for an individual to socially learn a spatial task would bridge this gap in understanding. We provided naïve goldfish, Carassius auratus, the opportunity to observe a trained conspecific navigate a T-shaped maze, and then recorded how many trials it took for them to learn the maze, time taken per trial, motivation, and acceptance of the food reward. We also recorded how many trials it took a control group to learn the maze without the opportunity to observe a demonstrator. The observer group took significantly longer to learn the maze than the control group. Although the observer group were significantly less motivated (trials without a choice made), they were significantly more likely to accept the food reward. The social learning of reward acceptance was taking place, but the process of the demonstration disrupted the training of the spatial task, with possible explanations as the passenger effect and trade-off mechanism being discussed. Future studies are needed to determine whether goldfish can acquire spatial information socially; however, this study contributes to the feasibility of studying social learning of environmentally information in goldfish. •Goldfish observed trained individuals perform a spatial task, then learned the spatial task themselves.•Observer subjects took significantly longer to learn the spatial task than control subjects.•Observer subjects were more likely to accept the reward, suggesting social transmission of food acceptance.•Two groups taking similar time per trial, but the observers were more likely to have unmotivated trials.