Symbol-value association and discrimination in the archerfish

Karoubi, Naomi; Leibovich, Tali; Segev, Ronen

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0174044

Cited by 13 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Many other aspects of archerfish shooting behaviour have been studied, from how they shape and control their shots, learn to hit moving targets and discriminate between targets (Dewenter, Gerullis, Hecker, & Schuster, 2017;Gerullis & Schuster, 2014;Karoubi, Leibovich, & Segev, 2017;Newport et al, 2015;Newport, Wallis, Temple, & Siebeck, 2013;Schuster, 2007;Wöhl & Schuster, 2007). However, little is known about their behavioural responses to differing social contexts.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Presence of an audience and consistent interindividual differences affect archerfish shooting behaviour

et al. 2018

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The social environment can play an important role in shaping the foraging behaviour of animals. In this study we investigated whether archerfish, Toxotes jaculatrix, display any behavioural changes in response to the presence of an audience while using their specialized foraging tactic of shooting, spitting precisely aimed jets of water, at prey targets. As any prey items shot down are potentially available to competitors, we hypothesized that shooting fish would be sensitive to the presence of potential competitors, especially given the suggestion that, in the wild, this species shows intraspecific kleptoparasitism and faces interspecific competition. We found that in the presence of another fish, archerfish took longer to shoot, made more orientations (aiming events) per shot, and tended to be closer to the target at the time of shooting. Additionally, archerfish showed high inter-individual differences in latency 2 to shoot, and these differences were consistent across contexts, with and without an audience. Our results show that archerfish are sensitive to, and adjust their shooting behaviour in response to, the presence of an audience and highlight the importance of social context in this fish species. We also suggest that inter-individual differences may play an important role in archerfish shooting behaviour. This study highlights the importance of social effects and competition on foraging behaviour and decision making. Further work in this species could explore whether differences in competitive foraging ability are linked to sensitivity to the presence of an audience.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Presence of an audience and consistent interindividual differences affect archerfish shooting behaviour

et al. 2018

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“…The transformation of the physical world observed in CP results in a deemphasizing of differences between similar objects within a category and an enhancement of category differences and, as a consequence, facilitates rapid categorization of the multitude of objects in our world. In recent years, fish have been shown to be able to learn and solve a range of visual discrimination tasks, indicating a higher level of cognitive ability than previously assumed (e.g., archerfish: symbol‐value association, Karoubi, Leibovich, & Segev, 2017; orientation saliency, Mokeichev, Segev, & Ben‐Shahar, 2010; human face recognition, Newport et al, 2016; context dependent decision making, Newport, Wallis, Temple, & Siebeck, 2013; goldfish: perception of illusory surfaces, Wyzisk & Neumeyer, 2007; cichlids: object categorization, Schluessel et al, 2012; labrids: tool‐like behavior, Pasko, 2010; and damselfish: Ebbinghaus illusion, Fuss & Schluessel, 2017; shape and face discrimination, Siebeck et al, 2009; Siebeck et al, 2010. Put together with the CP for face and species identity reported here, it appears that fish are excellent models for the study of visual perception and cognition, especially when considering the underlying mechanisms and evolutionary origins of these processes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Categorical face perception in fish: How a fish brain warps reality to dissociate “same” from “different”

Parker

Wallis

Obergrussberger

et al. 2020

J of Comparative Neurology

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Categorical perception (CP) is the phenomenon by which a smoothly varying stimulus property undergoes a nonlinear transformation during processing in the brain. Consequently, the stimuli are perceived as belonging to distinct categories separated by a sharp boundary. Originally thought to be largely innate, the discovery of CP in tasks such as novel image discrimination has piqued the interest of cognitive scientists because it provides compelling evidence that learning can shape a category's perceptual boundaries. CP has been particularly closely studied in human face perception. In nonprimates, there is evidence for CP for sound and color discrimination, but not for image or face discrimination. Here, we investigate the potential for learned CP in a lower vertebrate, the damselfish Pomacentrus amboinensis. Specifically, we tested whether the ability of these fish to discriminate complex facial patterns tracked categorical rather than metric differences in the stimuli. We first trained the fish to discriminate sets of two facial patterns. Next, we morphed between these patterns and determined the just noticeable difference (JND) between a morph and original image. Finally, we tested for CP by analyzing the discrimination ability of the fish for pairs of JND stimuli along the spectrum of morphs between two original images. Discrimination performance was significant for the image pair straddling the boundary between categories, and chance for equivalent stimulus pairs on either side, thus producing the classic "category boundary" effect. Our results reveal how perception can be influenced in a top-down manner even in the absence of a visual cortex.

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“…During the training period, the fish were trained to learn to shoot at a novel target to obtain a food reward. Archerfish will readily shoot novel targets and can learn to associate shooting a target with receiving food rewards (Newport et al 2013;Karoubi et al 2017). Each fish was given a single training session per day until it reached the training criterion: 10 on-target shots a day for two consecutive days.…”

Section: General Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Individual behavioural traits not social context affects learning about novel objects in archerfish

Jones

Spence-Jones

Webster

et al. 2021

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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Learning can enable rapid behavioural responses to changing conditions but can depend on the social context and behavioural phenotype of the individual. Learning rates have been linked to consistent individual differences in behavioural traits, especially in situations which require engaging with novelty, but the social environment can also play an important role. The presence of others can modulate the effects of individual behavioural traits and afford access to social information that can reduce the need for ‘risky’ asocial learning. Most studies of social effects on learning are focused on more social species; however, such factors can be important even for less-social animals, including non-grouping or facultatively social species which may still derive benefit from social conditions. Using archerfish, Toxotes chatareus, which exhibit high levels of intra-specific competition and do not show a strong preference for grouping, we explored the effect of social contexts on learning. Individually housed fish were assayed in an ‘open-field’ test and then trained to criterion in a task where fish learnt to shoot a novel cue for a food reward—with a conspecific neighbour visible either during training, outside of training or never (full, partial or no visible presence). Time to learn to shoot the novel cue differed across individuals but not across social context. This suggests that social context does not have a strong effect on learning in this non-obligatory social species; instead, it further highlights the importance that inter-individual variation in behavioural traits can have on learning. Significance statement Some individuals learn faster than others. Many factors can affect an animal’s learning rate—for example, its behavioural phenotype may make it more or less likely to engage with novel objects. The social environment can play a big role too—affecting learning directly and modifying the effects of an individual’s traits. Effects of social context on learning mostly come from highly social species, but recent research has focused on less-social animals. Archerfish display high intra-specific competition, and our study suggests that social context has no strong effect on their learning to shoot novel objects for rewards. Our results may have some relevance for social enrichment and welfare of this increasingly studied species, suggesting there are no negative effects of short- to medium-term isolation of this species—at least with regards to behavioural performance and learning tasks.

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Symbol-value association and discrimination in the archerfish

Cited by 13 publications

References 49 publications

Presence of an audience and consistent interindividual differences affect archerfish shooting behaviour

Presence of an audience and consistent interindividual differences affect archerfish shooting behaviour

Categorical face perception in fish: How a fish brain warps reality to dissociate “same” from “different”

Individual behavioural traits not social context affects learning about novel objects in archerfish

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