Encyclopedia
Animals inhabit species-specific ecological environments and acquire knowledge about the surrounding space to adaptively behave and move within it. Spatial cognition is important for achieving basic survival actions such as detecting the position of a food site or a mate, going back home or hiding from a predator. As such, animals possess multiple mechanisms for spatial mapping, including the use of individual reference points or positional relationships among them. One such mechanism allows disoriented animals to navigate according to the distinctive geometry of the environment: within a rectangular enclosure, they can simply reorient by using “metrics” (e.g., longer/shorter, closer/farther) and “sense” (e.g., left, right) attributes. Navigation based on the environmental geometry has been widely investigated across the animal kingdom, including fishes. In particular, research on teleost fish has contributed to the general understanding of geometric representations through both visual and extra-visual modalities, even vertebrates phylogenetically remote from mammals.
- navigation
- spatial geometry
- reorientation
- teleosts
- fishes
| Studies | Major results |
| Sovrano et al., 2002 [1] | In a reference memory task in visual modalities, X. eiseni learn to use both the rectangular geometry and the blue wall to reorient. |
| Sovrano et al., 2003 [2] | In a reference memory task in visual modalities, X. eiseni show a preference for geometry after the all-panels removal; for the trained local landmark after diagonal transposition; for geometry and the local landmark after the affine transformation, even in conflict. Some sex-specific differences found after the correct-panels removal (only females use geometry). |
| Vargas et al., 2004 [3] | In a reference memory task in visual modalities, C. auratus learn to use both the rectangular geometry and a corner landmark to reorient but show a preference for the landmark after affine transformation. |
| Sovrano et al., 2005 [4] | In a reference memory task in visual modalities, X. eiseni mainly reorient by geometry if trained in a small arena and tested in a big one and use the blue wall if trained in a big arena and tested in a small one. |
| Sovrano et al., 2005 [5] | In a reference memory task in visual modalities, lateralized X. eiseni is better at combining geometry and the blue wall, and at using local landmarks in the absence of metric attributes. |
| Vargas et al., 2006 [6] | In a reference memory task in visual modalities, C. auratus with lateral pallium lesions do not use geometry to reorient and just rely on the landmark. |
| Sovrano et al., 2007 [7] | In a reference memory task in visual modalities, X. eiseni mainly reorient with geometry in a small arena and with the blue wall in a big arena, after affine transformation of big landmarks (blue walls). |
| Brown et al., 2007 [8] | In a reference memory task in visual condition, controlled rearing conditions with or without featural cues affect the influence of landmarks, but not the ability to use geometry alone, in convict fish (A. nigrofasciatus). |
| Vargas et al., 2011 [9] | In a reference memory task in visual modalities, C. auratus with lateral pallium lesions are not totally impaired at using geometry to reorient when the target can be unambiguously located. |
| Lee et al., 2012 [10] | In a working memory task in visual modalities, X. eiseni and D. rerio use the rectangular geometry in the absence of training. Some species- and sex-specific differences have been found at simultaneously using geometry and the blue wall (females find harder the disengagement from geometry). |
| Lee et al., 2013 [11] | In a working memory task in visual modalities, D. rerio reorient according to boundary distance and sense but not by corners or boundary length. |
| Lee et al., 2015 [12] | In a working memory task in nonvisual modalities, D. rerio fail to merge several kinds of features with the geometry of a transparent rectangular arena. Some effects of proximity found in relation to the target position. |
| Sovrano & Chiandetti, 2017 [13] | In a reference memory task in visual modalities, X. eiseni reared within circular tanks reorient just as well as fish reared within rectangular tanks. The encoding of environmental geometries is “inborn” and independent from early experience. |
| Sovrano et al., 2018 [14] | In a reference memory task in nonvisual modalities, hypogean A. mexicanus and P. andruzzii learn to use both the rectangular geometry and a tactile landmark with embossed stripes to reorient. |
| Sovrano et al., 2020 [15] | In working and reference memory tasks in nonvisual modalities, X. eiseni, D. rerio, and C. auratus learn to use nonvisual geometry only over time under rewarded training (but not in the absence of training), probably relying on extra-visual sensory modalities. The different outcome of the geometric reorientation is strongly based on the type of experimental procedure. |
| Sovrano et al., 2020 [16] | In working and reference memory tasks in visual modalities, X. eiseni use features only to determine if the target is close regardless of metric attributes but overcome this limit over time under rewarded training. |
| Baratti et al., 2020 [17] | In a reference memory task in visual modalities, D. rerio learn to use the rectangular geometry to reorient, also showing improvements over time. |
| Baratti et al., 2021 [18] | In a reference memory task in visual modalities, D. rerio learn to use both corners and boundary length, in addition to distance combined with sense, to reorient. |
This entry is adapted from the peer-reviewed paper 10.3390/ani12070881
