Abstract
Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens) were tested in aquatic versions of radial arm mazes. In the first experiment, the fish were trained to find tubifex worms in an eight-arm maze in which the optimal strategy was to choose each arm once without repetition. After initial training, the fish entered approximately 6.63 different arms in eight choices, showing a strong tendency to choose sequences of adjacent arms, moving about the maze in a Stereotypic direction. This algorithmic response pattern was not, however, sufficient to predict the high performance level of the fish. In the second experiment, a delay of .5 or 5 min was interposed between the fourth and fifth choices. Similar Stereotypic patterns continued in Experiment 2, but choice accuracy following the longer delay declined to a level not significantly above chance. In the third experiment, different fish were tested in a three-arm maze, reinforced either for returning from the second arm to the arm in which they had most recently been fed (win-stay) or for visiting a third arm (win-shift). The fish were significantly faster at acquiring the win-shift contingency than the win-stay contingency. These results demonstrate that solution of spatial tasks depends on the interaction of appropriate behavioral strategies and cognitive capacities that may have little generality across species.
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This research was supported in part by Grant BNS 7914212 from the National Science Foundation.
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Roitblat, H.L., Tham, W. & Golub, L. Performance ofBetta splendens in a radial arm maze. Animal Learning & Behavior 10, 108–114 (1982). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03212055
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03212055