Neurons in the Dorso-Central Division of Zebrafish Pallium Respond to Change in Visual Numerosity

Messina, Andrea; Potrich, Davide; Schiona, Ilaria; Sovrano, Valeria Anna; Fraser, Scott E.; Brennan, Caroline H.; Vallortígara, Giorgio

doi:10.1093/cercor/bhab218

Cited by 28 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…The caudal region of the central part of area dorsalis telencephali (Dc) responds to change in numerosity of a visual Stimulus [138] Numerosity-based categorization of a visual Stimulus and involvement of Dc in approach/avoidance behaviors Habituation/dishabituation experiments associated with measurements of early gene (IEGs) expression were performed on adult zebrafish by Messina et al [137]. Animals were first habituated to a set of stimuli (small dots) and then faced (dishabituation) to a similar stimulus with a change in size (threefold increased or decreased).…”

Section: Adultmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…What are the advantages that an in-depth knowledge of a capacity for quantity discrimination in zebrafish could bring? Combining a spontaneous habituation/dishabituation paradigm with molecular biology techniques, we explored the major brain regions involved in numerosity discrimination in adult zebrafish [137,138]. Briefly, adult zebrafish were habituated to artificial stimuli (three or nine small red dots that changed in individual size, position and density while maintaining their numerousness and overall surface from trial to trial).…”

Section: Implications Of Neurobiological Research Of Number Cognition In Zebrafishmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Zebrafish acquired a prominent role as experimental model organisms in biology [ 117 , 118 , 119 ], moving from classical studies on developmental biology [ 120 , 121 , 122 ] to molecular genetics with the advent of CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing [ 123 , 124 ] and to high resolution functional circuits studies using confocal microscopy [ 125 , 126 , 127 ], and optogenetics [ 128 , 129 ]. The transparency of zebrafish larvae and the rapid development of their visual system (from 60 h post fertilization to 9 days of development) provide a unique opportunity to explore visual behavior in response to a large variety of natural and artificial visual stimuli like those used to study continuous and discrete quantities [ 130 , 131 , 132 , 133 , 134 , 135 , 136 , 137 , 138 ].…”

Section: From Behavior To Neural Circuitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Further research aimed to explore more in detail the pallial regions involved in numerosity estimation. This showed a specific activation in the most caudal part of the dorso-central (Dc) area of telencephalon for changes in numerosity, whereas the more rostral part responded to changes in shape [ 138 ]. To what extent this area could be considered as an equivalent of the mammalian parietal and prefrontal cortex [ 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 148 ] or of the nidopallium caudolaterale of corvids [ 43 , 48 , 49 , 148 , 149 ] is difficult to say.…”

Section: Neural Correlates Of a Sense Of Discrete Magnitude (Number) In Zebrafishmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Sense of Number in Fish, with Particular Reference to Its Neurobiological Bases

Messina

Potrich

Schiona

et al. 2021

Animals

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It is widely acknowledged that vertebrates can discriminate non-symbolic numerosity using an evolutionarily conserved system dubbed Approximate Number System (ANS). Two main approaches have been used to assess behaviourally numerosity in fish: spontaneous choice tests and operant training procedures. In the first, animals spontaneously choose between sets of biologically-relevant stimuli (e.g., conspecifics, food) differing in quantities (smaller or larger). In the second, animals are trained to associate a numerosity with a reward. Although the ability of fish to discriminate numerosity has been widely documented with these methods, the molecular bases of quantities estimation and ANS are largely unknown. Recently, we combined behavioral tasks with molecular biology assays (e.g c-fos and egr1 and other early genes expression) showing that the thalamus and the caudal region of dorso-central part of the telencephalon seem to be activated upon change in numerousness in visual stimuli. In contrast, the retina and the optic tectum mainly responded to changes in continuous magnitude such as stimulus size. We here provide a review and synthesis of these findings.

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Section: Adultmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Implications Of Neurobiological Research Of Number Cognition In Zebrafishmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: From Behavior To Neural Circuitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Neural Correlates Of a Sense Of Discrete Magnitude (Number) In Zebrafishmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

The Sense of Number in Fish, with Particular Reference to Its Neurobiological Bases

Messina

Potrich

Schiona

et al. 2021

Animals

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show abstract

“…Studies investigating the neural basis of number representation revealed selectivity of response of neurons in some areas of the brain such as the parietal and prefrontal cortex in humans [37,38] and in monkeys [39,40], the nidopallium caudolaterale in crows [15,41] and the most caudal dorsal-central part of the pallium in zebrafish [42,43], suggesting that common selective pressures led to convergent evolution of numerical representation in different species [44,45].…”

Section: Numerical Discrimination Seems To Be Supported By An "Approximate Numbermentioning

confidence: 99%

Archerfish number discrimination

Potrich

Zanon

Vallortígara

2021

Preprint

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Debates have arisen as to whether non-human animals actually can learn astract non-symbolic numerousness or whether they always rely on some continuous physical aspect of the stimuli covarying with number. Here we investigated archerfish (Toxotes jaculatrix) non-symbolic numerical discrimination with accurate control for co-varying continuous physical stimulus attributes. Archerfish were trained to select one of two groups of black dots (Exp. 1: 3 vs. 6 elements; Exp. 2: 2 vs. 3 elements); these were controlled for several combinations of physical variables (elements' size, overall area, overall perimeter, density and sparsity), ensuring that only numerical information was available. Generalization tests with novel numerical comparisons (2 vs. 3, 5 vs. 8 and 6 vs. 9 in Exp. 1; 3 vs. 4, 3 vs. 6 in Exp. 2) revealed choice for the largest or smallest numerical group according to the relative number that was rewarded at training. None of the continuous physical variables, including spatial frequency, were affecting archerfish performance. Results provide evidence of the spontaneous use of abstract relative numerical information in archerfish for both small and large numbers.

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Brain areas activated during visual learning in the cichlid fish Pseudotropheus zebra

2023

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The neural correlates of most cognitive functions in fish are unknown. This project aimed to identify brain regions involved in visual learning in the cichlid fish Pseudotropheus zebra. The expression of the protein pS6 was measured in 19 brain areas and compared between groups of individuals subjected to four different behavioral contexts (control, avoidance, trained, and novelty groups). Control group individuals were sacrificed with minimal interactions. Fish in the avoidance group were chased with a net for an hour, after which they were sacrificed. Individuals in the trained group received daily training sessions to associate a visual object with a food reward. They were sacrificed the day they reached learning criterion. Fish in the novelty group were habituated to one set of visual stimuli, then faced a change in stimulus type (novelty stimulus) before they were sacrificed. Fish in the three treatment groups showed the largest activation of pS6 in the inferior lobes and the tectum opticum compared to the control group. The avoidance group showed additional activation in the preoptic area, several telencephalic regions, the torus semicircularis, and the reticular formation. The trained group that received a food reward, showed additional activation of the torus lateralis, a tertiary gustatory center. The only area that showed strong activation in all three treatment groups was the nucleus diffusus situated within the inferior lobe. The inferior lobe receives prominent visual input from the tectum via the nucleus glomerulosus but so far, nothing is known about the functional details of this pathway. Our study showed for the first time that the inferior lobes play an important role in visual learning and object recognition.

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Neurons in the Dorso-Central Division of Zebrafish Pallium Respond to Change in Visual Numerosity

Cited by 28 publications

References 61 publications

The Sense of Number in Fish, with Particular Reference to Its Neurobiological Bases

The Sense of Number in Fish, with Particular Reference to Its Neurobiological Bases

Archerfish number discrimination

Brain areas activated during visual learning in the cichlid fish Pseudotropheus zebra

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