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The performance of cleaner wrasse, Labroides dimidiatus, in a reversal learning task varies across experimental paradigms.

  • Gingins S Institut de Biologie, Université de Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
  • Marcadier F Ecole Vétérinaire Nationale de Toulouse, Toulouse, France.
  • Wismer S Institut de Biologie, Université de Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
  • Krattinger O Institut de Biologie, Université de Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
  • Quattrini F Institut de Biologie, Université de Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
  • Bshary R Institut de Biologie, Université de Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
  • Binning SA Institut de Biologie, Université de Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
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  • 2018-05-16
Published in:
  • PeerJ. - 2018
Cognition
Cognitive performance
Coral reef fish
Experimental design
Labroides dimidiatus
Learning
Methodology
Spatial learning
Two-alternative forced choice test
English Testing performance in controlled laboratory experiments is a powerful tool for understanding the extent and evolution of cognitive abilities in non-human animals. However, cognitive testing is prone to a number of potential biases, which, if unnoticed or unaccounted for, may affect the conclusions drawn. We examined whether slight modifications to the experimental procedure and apparatus used in a spatial task and reversal learning task affected performance outcomes in the bluestreak cleaner wrasse, Labroides dimidiatus (hereafter "cleaners"). Using two-alternative forced-choice tests, fish had to learn to associate a food reward with a side (left or right) in their holding aquarium. Individuals were tested in one of four experimental treatments that differed slightly in procedure and/or physical set-up. Cleaners from all four treatment groups were equally able to solve the initial spatial task. However, groups differed in their ability to solve the reversal learning task: no individuals solved the reversal task when tested in small tanks with a transparent partition separating the two options, whereas over 50% of individuals solved the task when performed in a larger tank, or with an opaque partition. These results clearly show that seemingly insignificant details to the experimental set-up matter when testing performance in a spatial task and might significantly influence the outcome of experiments. These results echo previous calls for researchers to exercise caution when designing methodologies for cognition tasks to avoid misinterpretations.
Language
  • English
Open access status
gold
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Persistent URL
https://sonar.ch/global/documents/128694
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