Counting on Numbers—Numerical Abilities in Grey Bamboo Sharks and Ocellate River Stingrays

Kreuter, Nils; Christofzik, Nele; Niederbremer, Carolin; Bollé, Janik; Schluessel, Vera

doi:10.3390/ani11092634

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 72 publications

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“…In vertebrates, numerical acuity appears to correlate with the size and degree of complexity of nervous system. Cartilaginous fish are very poor at discriminating numerical quantities, amphibians and reptiles show rudimentary numerical discrimination; numerical abilities become increasingly more sophisticated in mammals and birds, approaching those typical of humans in large-brained species such as primates and corvids (Agrillo 2015;Agrillo and Bisazza 2018;Khatiwada and Burmeister 2021;Kreuter et al 2021;Szabo et al 2021). The idea of a relationship between brain complexity and accuracy in numerical discrimination is further reinforced by the observation that during human ontogeny numerical acuity gradually increase from birth to early adulthood (Coubart et al 2014;Halberda and Feigenson 2008).…”

Section: Numerical Abilities Of Teleostsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Zebrafish excel in number discrimination under an operant conditioning paradigm

Bisazza

Santacà

2022

Anim Cogn

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Numerical discrimination is widespread in vertebrates, but this capacity varies enormously between the different species examined. The guppy (Poecilia reticulata), the only teleost examined following procedures that allow a comparison with the other vertebrates, outperforms amphibians, reptiles and many warm-blooded vertebrates, but it is unclear whether this is a feature shared with the other teleosts or represents a peculiarity of this species. We trained zebrafish (Danio rerio) to discriminate between numbers differing by one unit, varying task difficulty from 2 versus 3 to 5 versus 6 items. Non-numerical variables that covary with number, such as density or area, did not affect performance. Most fish reached learning criterion on all tasks up to 4 versus 5 discrimination with no sex difference in accuracy. Although no individual reached learning criterion in the 5 versus 6 task, performance was significant at the group level, suggesting that this may represent the discrimination threshold for zebrafish. Numerosity discrimination abilities of zebrafish compare to those of guppy, being higher than in some warm-blooded vertebrates, such as dogs, horses and domestic fowl, though lower than in parrots, corvids and primates. Learning rate was similar in a control group trained to discriminate between different-sized shapes, but zebrafish were slightly more accurate when discriminating areas than numbers and males were more accurate than females. At the end of the experiment, fish trained on numbers and controls trained on areas generalized to the reciprocal set of stimuli, indicating they had used a relational strategy to solve these tasks.

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Section: Numerical Abilities Of Teleostsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Zebrafish excel in number discrimination under an operant conditioning paradigm

Bisazza

Santacà

2022

Anim Cogn

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“…While freshwater stingrays and bamboo sharks were found to use numerical information independently of other variables, the maths did not come easy to them—only about half the animals tested learned the training task and went on to perform in transfer tests. The upper limit, up to which two amounts of presented objects differing by only one item could still be successfully differentiated, was four (Kreuter et al 2021 ), which is similar to most vertebrates (Agrillo 2015 ). A follow up study (Schluessel et al 2022 ) tested the stingray’s addition and subtraction abilities within the number space of one to five.…”

Section: Numerositymentioning

confidence: 99%

Smart sharks: a review of chondrichthyan cognition

Brown

Schluessel

2022

Anim Cogn

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Abstract450 million years of evolution have given chondrichthyans (sharks, rays and allies) ample time to adapt perfectly to their respective everyday life challenges and cognitive abilities have played an important part in that process. The diversity of niches that sharks and rays occupy corresponds to matching diversity in brains and behaviour, but we have only scratched the surface in terms of investigating cognition in this important group of animals. The handful of species that have been cognitively assessed in some detail over the last decade have provided enough data to safely conclude that sharks and rays are cognitively on par with most other vertebrates, including mammals and birds. Experiments in the lab as well as in the wild pose their own unique challenges, mainly due to the handling and maintenance of these animals as well as controlling environmental conditions and elimination of confounding factors. Nonetheless, significant advancements have been obtained in the fields of spatial and social cognition, discrimination learning, memory retention as well as several others. Most studies have focused on behaviour and the underlying neural substrates involved in cognitive information processing are still largely unknown. Our understanding of shark cognition has multiple practical benefits for welfare and conservation management but there are obvious gaps in our knowledge. Like most marine animals, sharks and rays face multiple threats. The effects of climate change, pollution and resulting ecosystem changes on the cognitive abilities of sharks and stingrays remain poorly investigated and we can only speculate what the likely impacts might be based on research on bony fishes. Lastly, sharks still suffer from their bad reputation as mindless killers and are heavily targeted by commercial fishing operations for their fins. This public relations issue clouds people’s expectations of shark intelligence and is a serious impediment to their conservation. In the light of the fascinating results presented here, it seems obvious that the general perception of sharks and rays as well as their status as sentient, cognitive animals, needs to be urgently revisited.

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Cichlids and stingrays can add and subtract ‘one’ in the number space from one to five

Schluessel

Kreuter

Gosemann

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

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The numerical understanding of cichlids and stingrays was examined regarding addition and subtraction abilities within the number space of one to five. Experiments were conducted as two-alternative forced-choice experiments, using a delayed matching to sample technique. On each trial, fish had to perform either an addition or subtraction, based on the presentation of two-dimensional objects in two distinct colors, with the color signaling a particular arithmetic process. Six cichlids and four stingrays successfully completed training and recognized specific colors as symbols for addition and subtraction. Cichlids needed more sessions than stingrays to reach the learning criterion. Transfer tests showed that learning was independent of straightforward symbol memorization. Individuals did not just learn to pick the highest or lowest number presented based on the respective color; instead, learning was specific to adding or subtracting ‘one’. Although group results were significant for both species in all tests, individual results varied. Addition was learned more easily than subtraction by both species. While cichlids learned faster than stingrays, and more cichlids than stingrays learned the task, individual performance of stingrays exceeded that of cichlids. Previous studies have provided ample evidence that fish have numerical abilities on par with those of other vertebrate and invertebrate species tested, a result that is further supported by the findings of the current study.

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Counting on Numbers—Numerical Abilities in Grey Bamboo Sharks and Ocellate River Stingrays

Cited by 4 publications

References 72 publications

Zebrafish excel in number discrimination under an operant conditioning paradigm

Zebrafish excel in number discrimination under an operant conditioning paradigm

Smart sharks: a review of chondrichthyan cognition

Cichlids and stingrays can add and subtract ‘one’ in the number space from one to five

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