Preliminary studies on acquisition of a discriminated depth-position task by goldfish.

Abstract

The present report describes a new technique for the study of discriminated avoidance in the goldfish. Goldfish were trained in one of two conditions: to avoid electric shock by swimming to the top of the tank in the presence of a red light and to the bottom of the tank during a green light stimulus (Red up—Green down), or the reverse condition, to avoid shock by swimming up on green and down on red (Green up—Red down). Results indicated that learning occurred whether trials were spaced or massed and that the technique can be utilized for acquisition training of individual fish or fish trained in groups. In addition, differences in rate of learning between fish trained in the Red up—Green down condition and fish in the Green up—Red down condition were found. The superior performance of the Red up—Green down group is discussed in terms of the spectral characteristics of goldfish vision and the nature of the task.