The development of the Jamming Avoidance Response (JAR) in Eigenmannia: An innate behavior indeed

Abstract

In its Jamming Avoidance Response (JAR), the gymnotiform electric fish Eigenmannia shifts its electric organ discharge (EOD) frequency away from similar interfering frequencies. Continual behavioral measurements were carried out in 164 juvenile fish until a correct JAR emerged. Sixty-four of these fish were raised in complete isolation, the remainder in a community of their siblings. A correct JAR emerged in fish of 1.2-1.6 cm in body length, corresponding to a developmental age of 24-32 days. In 6 of 164 fish, the emergence of a correct JAR followed an interim appearance of an incorrect JAR, which involved frequency shifts in the direction opposite to those of a correct JAR. The fish raised in isolation developed the same forms of behavior and showed the same sequence in their appearance as did socially raised fish. This indicates that the JAR and its developmental schedule are innate. The appearance of an incorrect JAR suggests initial errors or incompleteness in the wiring of central nervous connections. A correct JAR ultimately emerged even if a stimulus regimen was offered that 'rewarded' frequency shifts in the direction opposite to those of a correct JAR. This indicates that the development of the JAR is immune to experimental alterations of sensory experience.