It is widely acknowledged that vertebrates can discriminate non‐symbolic numerosity using an evolutionarily conserved system dubbed Approximate Number System (ANS). Two main approaches have been used to assess behaviourally numerosity in fish: spontaneous choice tests and operant training procedures. In the first, animals spontaneously choose between sets of biolog-ically‐relevant stimuli (e.g., conspecifics, food) differing in quantities (smaller or larger). In the sec-ond, animals are trained to associate a numerosity with a reward. Although the ability of fish to discriminate numerosity has been widely documented with these methods, the molecular bases of quantities estimation and ANS are largely unknown. Recently, we combined behavioral tasks with molecular biology assays (e.g c‐fos and egr1 and other early genes expression) showing that the thalamus and the caudal region of dorso‐central part of the telencephalon seem to be activated upon change in numerousness in visual stimuli. In contrast, the retina and the optic tectum mainly re-sponded to changes in continuous magnitude such as stimulus size. We here provide a review and synthesis of these findings.

The sense of number in fish, with particular reference to its neurobiological bases / Messina, Andrea; Potrich, Davide; Schiona, Ilaria; Sovrano, Valeria Anna; Vallortigara, Giorgio. - In: ANIMALS. - ISSN 2076-2615. - ELETTRONICO. - 11:11(2021), pp. 3072.1-3072.17. [10.3390/ani11113072]

The sense of number in fish, with particular reference to its neurobiological bases

Messina, Andrea;Potrich, Davide;Schiona, Ilaria;Sovrano, Valeria Anna;Vallortigara, Giorgio
2021-01-01

Abstract

It is widely acknowledged that vertebrates can discriminate non‐symbolic numerosity using an evolutionarily conserved system dubbed Approximate Number System (ANS). Two main approaches have been used to assess behaviourally numerosity in fish: spontaneous choice tests and operant training procedures. In the first, animals spontaneously choose between sets of biolog-ically‐relevant stimuli (e.g., conspecifics, food) differing in quantities (smaller or larger). In the sec-ond, animals are trained to associate a numerosity with a reward. Although the ability of fish to discriminate numerosity has been widely documented with these methods, the molecular bases of quantities estimation and ANS are largely unknown. Recently, we combined behavioral tasks with molecular biology assays (e.g c‐fos and egr1 and other early genes expression) showing that the thalamus and the caudal region of dorso‐central part of the telencephalon seem to be activated upon change in numerousness in visual stimuli. In contrast, the retina and the optic tectum mainly re-sponded to changes in continuous magnitude such as stimulus size. We here provide a review and synthesis of these findings.
2021
11
Messina, Andrea; Potrich, Davide; Schiona, Ilaria; Sovrano, Valeria Anna; Vallortigara, Giorgio
The sense of number in fish, with particular reference to its neurobiological bases / Messina, Andrea; Potrich, Davide; Schiona, Ilaria; Sovrano, Valeria Anna; Vallortigara, Giorgio. - In: ANIMALS. - ISSN 2076-2615. - ELETTRONICO. - 11:11(2021), pp. 3072.1-3072.17. [10.3390/ani11113072]
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
Messina et al., 2021, Animals.pdf

accesso aperto

Descrizione: Articolo principale
Tipologia: Versione editoriale (Publisher’s layout)
Licenza: Creative commons
Dimensione 1.27 MB
Formato Adobe PDF
1.27 MB Adobe PDF Visualizza/Apri

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11572/322368
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus 9
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 9
  • OpenAlex ND
social impact