Practically speaking, the research team behind the new study doesn't appear to be comparing the math prowess of fish and humans as much as trying to find patterns and similarities between the species' cognitive abilities. To do so they constructed a series of tests constructed to test the numerical skills of fish--mosquitofish to be exact--by having them swim between "identical doors bearing different numbers of symbols" with a path to rejoining a larger group:
The fish were then placed in tanks where they had to chose between one of two identical doors bearing different numbers of symbols. For example, four shapes might be associated with door A and eight shapes with door B. At the beginning of the test, the fish did not know where to go, and they chose randomly. Over time, however, the fish started to chose the correct door more often than by chance alone.Researchers then rounded up a group of 25 undergraduates to engage in a test that "presented them with the same types of challenges" (i.e. determining the differences between larger numbers very quickly). It turns out both fish and humans can distinguish large differences fairly easily. It's when the ratio becomes something like 3:4 instead of 1:2 or 2:3 that both groups start to have difficulty. The verdict? Fish seem to think in a similar way as humans. According to head researcher Christian Agrillo "the results add to evidence that humans, fish, and other vertebrates share the same abilities for processing numbers as a distant but common ancestor," notes Kaplan.
Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments
or send an email to the author at
ehayden at nationaljournal dot com.
You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.
Erik Hayden
User Comments
Please type your comment and click Post. If you’re not already logged in you will be prompted to log in or register