Short-term memory in zebrafish (Danio rerio)

Associative learning in the multichamber tank: A new learning paradigm for zebrafish

“…computer animated 15 images of zebrafish. Computer animated images have been successfully utilized for inducing strong shoaling responses [23,26,27] as well as for acquisition of short and long term memory in zebrafish [13,14]. Whether this artificial stimulus is appropriate for the current paradigm will be empirically answered in the future.…”

“…In nature zebrafish have been found to form shoals ranging in size between only a few to hundreds of members. In the laboratory, varying the number of members of animated shoals between 3 to 8 was also found not to have a significant effect on the strength of the shoaling response [16], but in numerous past studies we employed 5 stimulus fish 7 [13,14,17,18], and thus we decided to use the same number of fish here as well. To distinguish "stimulus fish" from the experimental subject, we injected the former with 0.05µl of blue marking tissue dye (Sigma Aldrich) near the caudal fin as described before [19].…”

“…In addition, different stimuli including animated images presented on a computer screen have been explored for zebrafish learning paradigms [13,14]. Despite these recent developments, the number of learning paradigms available for zebrafish is significantly smaller compared to those developed for traditional 5 vertebrate laboratory organisms including the rat or the mouse [3].…”

The utility of zebrafish as a model for behavioural genetics

“…Zebrafish display learning and memory capabilities and both short and long-term memory formation have been evaluated in this species [31,32]. There is evidence that glutamatergic and cholinergic signalling are implicated in the acquisition and consolidation phases of memory processing [31].…”

Pharmacological analyses of learning and memory in zebrafish (Danio rerio)

“…Similarly, other reports have demonstrated that fish can acquire interval timing – although that behavior is often overshadowed by another behavioral endpoint (of primary interest), like shoaling. For example, in an investigation into the social behavior of zebrafish, Jia et al (2014) found that subjects could accurately predict the location of shoal image following training in which the shoal was presented at different locations after reliable intervals of time. Other studies mentioned in the above sections also capture a component of interval timing.…”