So goldfish only have a short memory, huh? Few seconds gone and they forget, eh?
Er, no, actually. A team led by Dr Phil Gee of Plymouth University ( West of England) has had goldfish trained to press a lever for food. Once this was learned the scientists, mean devils, set the device so that it only gave food during one set lunch hour a day.So what did our non-snacking goldfish do ? Hammer the lever in frustration ? Raid the lab's refrigerator? No. They pressed the lever only during the appointed hour each day. When the hour was up and pressing the lever brought no food they instantly stopped trying until the appointed hour next day.
Of course this canard about the fish is often given as 'goldfish have an attention span of a few seconds'. This seems, to me, incapable of scientific assessment or accurate measurement; we all have an attention span of a few seconds for some stimuli . For me it is any of Schubert's lieder; for others it's cricket ( the innocents ) This memory test is as close as we can get isn't it, to restoring the reputation of the carp in question?
) This memory test is as close as we can get isn't it, to restoring the reputation of the carp in question?
