Study shows: Fish can calculate
Credit: © Yuttana Joe / stock.adobe.comCichlids and stingrays can perform simple addition and subtraction in the number range of one to five. This has been shown in a recent study by the University of Bonn, which has now been published in the journaladvertisement
This fact has been known for some time. However, the research group led by Prof. Dr. Vera Schluessel from the Institute of Zoology at the University of Bonn has now shown that both species can even calculate."We trained the animals to perform simple additions and subtractions," Schluessel explains."In doing so, they had to increase or decrease an initial value by one.
But can the fish apply this knowledge to new tasks? Had they actually internalized the mathematical rule behind the colors?"To check this, we deliberately omitted some calculations during training," Schluessel explains."Namely, 3+1 and 3-1. After the learning phase, the animals got to see these two tasks for the first time. But even in those tests, they significantly often chose the correct answer.
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