Position discrimination in the salamander, Ambystoma tigrinum

Abstract

Twenty larval tiger salamanders (Ambystoma tigrinum) were collected from a playa lake in West Texas and maintained in the laboratory for 7 days prior to the beginning of position training. Ten subjects in the larval state were trained on a position problem in a T-maze for 5 trials per day to a criterion of 80% correct responses, using a self-correction procedure. Following metamorphosis to the adult stage, these subjects were tested for retention. The remaining 10 subjects were allowed to metamorphose prior to training on the position problem. The results indicate reliably faster learning in the adult (terrestrial) subjects, and reliable retention of the response following metamorphosis. These results, taken in conjunction with informal observation of the behavior of the subjects in the experimental environment, suggest that the performance of the adult subjects was a result of their better perceptual apparatus.

Reduction of Visual Inhibition to Stationary Prey by Early Experience in Salamandra salamandra (L.)1

“…Only few studies deal with the problem of retention of larval experience beyond metamorphosis. FLOWER (1927) observed that Salamandra salamandra forgets larval prey experience during metamorphosis, whereas in other urodele species retention of certain larval experience beyond metamorphosis was observed (HERSHKOWITZ and SAMUEL 1973;SCHWARTZ and COGAN 1977). Possibly, the degree to which larval experience determines behavior after metamorphosis varies among species, and may depend on the extent to which the mode of life is changed.…”