AI Article Synopsis

  • Small fishes can learn to recognize predators by associating chemical alarm cues from their injured skin with new stimuli, like sounds or odors.
  • In an experiment with zebrafish, researchers paired a specific sound (Tone 1 at 285 Hz) with predation risk, leading to observable fear responses.
  • However, the fish showed no fear response to a different sound frequency (762 Hz), indicating that they may not generalize auditory cues to the same extent as olfactory or visual cues, possibly due to differences in sensory processing.

Article Abstract

Predator recognition by small fishes can be acquired when chemical alarm cues released from damaged skin (by a predator attack) are paired with a novel stimulus, such as the appearance or odor of a predator. Once learned, fish can extend recognition of risk by generalizing to associate risk with additional stimuli that are similar to the conditioned novel stimulus. Here, we trained zebrafish to associate a novel auditory stimulus with predation risk, and then tested to see if they generalize risk to all sound stimuli or whether the conditioned response is limited to the sound frequency of the conditioning stimulus. We found that zebrafish Danio rerio readily associated risk of predation with Tone 1 (285 Hz), as evidenced by reduction in activity, increased time spent near the substratum and increased shelter use, but fish conditioned to fear Tone 1 completely ignored presentation of a second tone of 762 Hz. These data suggest that generalization does not occur as easily for auditory cues as they do for olfactory and visual cues, perhaps due to differences in the properties of sensory biology or the cognitive mechanisms that process information in different sensory modalities.

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2021.104421DOI Listing

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