PUBLICATION

Larval zebrafish display dynamic learning of aversive stimuli in a constant visual surrounding

Authors
Xu, J., Casanave, R., Guo, S.
ID
ZDB-PUB-210705-3
Date
2021
Source
Learning & memory (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.)   28: 228-238 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Guo, Su
Keywords
none
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Avoidance Learning/physiology*
  • Behavior, Animal/physiology*
  • Habituation, Psychophysiologic/physiology*
  • Larva/physiology*
  • Visual Perception/physiology*
  • Zebrafish/physiology*
PubMed
34131054 Full text @ Learn. Mem.
Abstract
Balancing exploration and anti-predation are fundamental to the fitness and survival of all animal species from early life stages. How these basic survival instincts drive learning remains poorly understood. Here, using a light/dark preference paradigm with well-controlled luminance history and constant visual surrounding in larval zebrafish, we analyzed intra- and intertrial dynamics for two behavioral components, dark avoidance and center avoidance. We uncover that larval zebrafish display short-term learning of dark avoidance with initial sensitization followed by habituation; they also exhibit long-term learning that is sensitive to trial interval length. We further show that such stereotyped learning patterns is stimulus-specific, as they are not observed for center avoidance. Finally, we demonstrate at individual levels that long-term learning is under homeostatic control. Together, our work has established a novel paradigm to understand learning, uncovered sequential sensitization and habituation, and demonstrated stimulus specificity, individuality, as well as dynamicity in learning.
Genes / Markers
Figures
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping