One of the main limitations of using small fish, like zebrafish, for learning tests is the high levels of stress experienced by a single individual when placed in novel conditions. Therefore, it would be better to use larger fish, such as Cichlids as they show fewer signs of distress in novel conditions. A study in Behavioural Brain Research validates a learning protocol using the T-maze test to study cognition in Maylandia callainos. First, the team tested the capability to learn in contextual conditioning tasks. Then, the task was validated for studying cognition using drugs to manipulate learning. Here, MK-801, a known amnesic drug, decreased maze learning performance compared to control animals. Conversely, animals exposed to caffeine were more precise at the beginning of the learning regime compared to control animals. However, there was no difference in memory retrieval. These results show a validated color preference learning paradigm for M. callainos, enhancing the toolset available for cognition research in fish.

Original reference: Gedzu, V.R. et al. Behav. Brain Res. 471,115077 (2024)

使用斑马鱼等小鱼进行学习测试的主要限制之一是单个个体在新条件下会承受很高的压力。因此，最好使用较大的鱼，例如慈鲷，因为它们在新条件下表现出较少的痛苦迹象。行为大脑研究中的一项研究验证了使用 T 迷宫测试来研究Maylandia callainos认知的学习方案。首先，团队测试了在情境调节任务中的学习能力。然后，该任务被验证用于使用药物来操纵学习来研究认知。在这里，与对照动物相比，MK-801（一种已知的遗忘药物）降低了迷宫学习性能。相反，与对照动物相比，接触咖啡因的动物在学习制度开始时的精确度更高。然而，记忆提取方面没有差异。这些结果显示了一种经过验证的M. callainos颜色偏好学习范例，增强了可用于鱼类认知研究的工具集。

原始参考： Gedzu、VR 等。行为。脑研究。 471,115077 (2024)