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Organisms Commons

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Psychology

Culum Brown, PhD

Homing

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Full-Text Articles in Organisms

Microhabitat Use Affects Goby (Gobiidae) Cue Choice In Spatial Learning Task, G. E. White, C. Brown Sep 2016

Microhabitat Use Affects Goby (Gobiidae) Cue Choice In Spatial Learning Task, G. E. White, C. Brown

Culum Brown, PhD

This study investigated whether spatial learning ability and cue use of gobies (Gobiidae) from two contrasting habitats differed in a spatial task. Gobies were collected from the spatially complex rock pools and dynamic, homogenous sandy shores. Fishes were trained to locate a shelter under the simulated threat of predation and it was determined whether they used local or extra-maze (global) and geometric cues to do so. It was hypothesized that fishes from rock pools would outperform fishes from sandy shores in their ability to relocate shelter and the two groups would differ in their cue use. It was found that …


A Comparison Of Spatial Learning And Memory Capabilities In Intertidal Gobies, Gemma E. White, Culum Brown May 2016

A Comparison Of Spatial Learning And Memory Capabilities In Intertidal Gobies, Gemma E. White, Culum Brown

Culum Brown, PhD

For the majority of animals, the ability to orient in familiar locations is a fundamental part of life, and spatial memory allows individuals to remember key locations such as food patches, shelter, mating sites or areas regularly occupied by predators. This study determined if gobies collected from rocky platforms and sandy beaches differ in their ability to learn and memorise the locations of tide pools in a simulated rocky intertidal zone. Intertidal rock pool gobies show acute homing abilities and, therefore, should be expected to display superior learning and memory capabilities. In contrast, it is unlikely that natural selection would …