Animal Cognition Lab

Our experiments

For many animal species, especially lower vertebrates, methodologies to study certain cognitive abilities are scarce or not efficient. Consequently, part of our work (somehow the funniest!!) consists in developing and testing novel paradigms. Below, some of these paradigms.

Discrimination learning paradigm for fish

Developed with Angelo Bisazza to study sex differences in discrimination reversal learning in guppies. The fish were trained with a stepwise procedure to dislodge the discs. Then, we presented the choice between two different coloured discs. Only one of the two discs hid the food.

Numerical discrimination with the disc paradigm

The same paradigm has been adapted for other discriminations. Here, a numerical discrimination.

A problem-solving task for fish

Without pre-training with the stepwise procedure, the paradigm becomes a problem-solving task. Some guppies are still able to solve it: they learn spontaneously to dislodge the discs.

Inhibitory control - Aquatic cylinder task

Inhibitory control - The tube task

Quantity discrimination paradigm for treefrogs

Lucon-Xiccato T, Gatto E, Bisazza A. (2018). Quantity discrimination by treefrogs. Animal Behaviour, 139, 61-69.

Olfactory discrimination in zebrafish

Lucon-Xiccato T, De Russi G, Bertolucci C. (2020). A novel-odour exploration test for measuring anxiety in adult and larval zebrafish. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 335, 108619.

Cheap infrared tracking system

There is high ‘competition’ between projects to use the two Noldus tracking set-ups at UniFE. Here, a solution: a custom system that allows tracking fish behaviour with infrared light and costs $200! Thanks to Andrea Margutti for patiently soldering all those LEDs.

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