Reassessment of socially mediated learning in Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens)
Journal of Comparative Psychology, 106 (2):
150--162 (June 1992)Abstract
Seven experiments examined a previous report of Pavlovian conditioning of territorial behavior using a mirror unconditioned stimulus/stimuli (UCS) in Betta splendens. Control procedures omitted from the original research were included. Three studies failed to find that exposure to a mirror (UCS) in a colored tunnel conditioned stimulus/stimuli (CS+) produces learned approach to this tunnel. Instead, the fish exhibited unlearned green color preferences prior to mirror exposure and highly variable, random tunnel preferences after mirror exposure, One experiment provided evidence for an associative effect with the red CS+, but training with the green CS+ did not produce enhanced tunnel preferences. In contrast, spatial discrimination was shown in 2 experiments. The data, taken with other failures to replicate, raised questions about the biological preparedness of B. splendens to learn to associate agonistic responses with color features in the environment.