Long-term memory deficits for habituation of predatory behavior in the forebrain ablated goldfish ( Carassius auratus)

Abstract

Forebrain-ablated, sham-operated, and normal goldfish were presented with 40 live brine shrimp confined in a clear plastic tube for 10 min on each of 5 successive days. The predatory responses (bites) directed at the brine shrimp waned similarly for all groups on day 1, indicating no deficit in inhibition or in short-term memory. The normal and sham-operated groups showed complete savings of the previous day's experience on subsequent days, indicating good memory for the first day's habituation. The forebrainless fish showed essentially no savings between days, suggesting a deficit in long-term memory. The experimental paradigm makes it difficult to interpret the results according to nonspecific arousal or inhibitory explanations.