Experimental evidence for spatial learning in cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis).
- 1 January 2003
- journal article
- Published by American Psychological Association (APA) in Journal of Comparative Psychology
- Vol. 117 (2) , 149-155
- https://doi.org/10.1037/0735-7036.117.2.149
Abstract
Laboratory mazes were used to study spatial-learning capabilities in cuttlefish (Sepia offcinalis), using escape for reinforcement. In preliminary observations, cuttlefish in an artificial pond moved actively around the environment and appeared to learn about features of their environment. In laboratory experiments, cuttlefish exited a simple alley maze more quickly with experience and retained the learned information. Similar improvement was not found in open-field mazes or T mazes, perhaps because of motor problems. Cuttlefish learned to exit a maze that required them to find openings in a vertical wall. The wall maze was modified to an arena, and simultaneous discrimination learning and reversal learning were demonstrated. These experiments indicate that cuttlefish improve performance over serial reversals of a simultaneous, visual-spatial discrimination problem.Keywords
This publication has 37 references indexed in Scilit:
- A REVIEW OF SIMULTANEOUS VISUAL DISCRIMINATION AS A METHOD OF TRAINING OCTOPUSESBiological Reviews, 1996
- Learning performances and aging in cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis)Experimental Gerontology, 1992
- Adaptive coloration in young cuttlefish ( Sepia officinalis L.): the morphology and development of body patterns and their relation to behaviourPhilosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. B, Biological Sciences, 1988
- Quantitative differences among the brains of cephalopodsJournal of Zoology, 1987
- Shelter Utilization by the Molluscan Cephalopod Octopus bimaculatusMarine Ecology Progress Series, 1982
- Parasitic Insects.R. R. AskewThe Quarterly Review of Biology, 1972
- The Croonian Lecture, 1965 - The organization of a memory systemProceedings of the Royal Society of London. B. Biological Sciences, 1965
- The failures of discrimination learning following the removal of the vertical lobes in OctopusProceedings of the Royal Society of London. B. Biological Sciences, 1960
- A test of a theory of shape discrimination in Octopus Vulgaris Lamarck.Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 1959
- The formation of learning sets.Psychological Review, 1949