Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Fish Cognition and Consciousness

  • Articles
  • Published:
Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Questions about fish consciousness and cognition are receiving increasing attention. In this paper, I explain why one must be careful to avoid drawing conclusions too hastily about this hugely diverse set of species.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Allen, C. (2004). Animal Pain. Noûs, 38, 617–643.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Allen, C. (2006). Ethics and the science of animal minds. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics, 27, 375–394.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Allen, C. (2010). Animal consciousness. In E. N. Zalta (Ed.), The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy (Winter 2010 Edition). http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2010/entries/consciousness-animal/. Accessed May 13, 2011.

  • Allen, C. (forthcoming). Private codes and public structures. In D. McFarland, K. Stenning, & M. McGonigle-Chalmers (Eds.), The complex mind: An interdisciplinary approach. London: Palgrave-Macmillan.

  • Allen, C., Fuchs, P. N., Shriver, A., & Wilson, H. (2005) Deciphering animal pain. In M. Aydede (Ed.), Pain: New essays on the nature of pain and the methodology of its study (pp. 352–366). Cambridge: MIT Press.

  • Allen, C., Grau, J. W., & Meagher, M. W. (2009) The lower bounds of cognition: What do spinal cords reveal? In J. Bickle (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of philosophy of neuroscience (pp. 129–142). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

  • Arai, T., Tominaga, O., Seikai, T., & Masuda, R. (2007). Observational learning improves predator avoidance in hatchery-reared Japanese flounder Paralichthys olivaceus juveniles. Journal of Sea Research, 58, 59–64.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baars, B. J. (1997). In the theatre of consciousness: Global workspace theory, a rigorous scientific theory of consciousness. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 4, 292–309.

    Google Scholar 

  • Babb, S. J., & Crystal, J. D. (2006). Episodic-like memory in the rat. Current Biology, 16, 1317–1321.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bering, J. M., & Bjorklund, D. F. (2005). The serpent’s gift: Evolutionary psychology and consciousness. In P. D. Zelazo, M. Moscovitch, & E. Thompson (Eds.), Cambridge handbook of consciousness. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bitterman, M. E. (1975). The comparative analysis of learning: Are the laws of learning the same in all animals? Science, 188, 699–709.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Block, N. (1995). On a confusion about a function of consciousness. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 18, 227–247.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Block, N. (2005). Two neural correlates of consciousness. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 9, 41–89.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Braithwaite, V. (2010). Do fish feel pain?. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, C., & Laland, K. N. (2003). Social learning in fishes: a review. Fish and Fisheries, 4, 280–288.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bshary, R., Hohner, A., Ait-el-Djoudi, K., & Fricke. H., (2006). Interspecific communicative and coordinated hunting between groupers and giant moray eels in the Red Sea. PLoS Biology, 4(12), e431. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0040431.

  • Cabanac, M., Cabanac, A. J., & Parent, A. (2009). The emergence of consciousness in phylogeny. Behavioral Brain Research, 198, 267–272.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cabanac, M., & Laberge, F. (1998). Fever in goldfish is induced by pyrogens but not by handling. Physiology & Behavior, 63, 377–379.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cai, D. J., Shuman, T., Harrison, E. M., Sage, J. R., & Anagnostaras, S. G. (2009). Sleep deprivation and Pavlovian fear conditioning. Learning and Memory, 16, 595–599.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carruthers, P. (2000). Phenomenal consciousness: A naturalistic theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Clark, R. E., & Squire, L. R. (1998). Classical conditioning and brain systems: The role of awareness. Science, 280, 77–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clayton, N. S., & Dickinson, A. (1998). Episodic-like memory during cache recovery by scrub jays. Nature, 395, 272–274.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clayton, N. S., Emery, N., & Dickinson, A. (2006). The rationality of animal memory: Complex caching strategies of western scrub jays. In S. Hurley & M. Nudds (eds.) Rational animals? Oxford: Oxford University Press.

  • Dadda, M., Piffer, L., Agrillo, C., & Bisazza, A. (2009). Spontaneous number representation in mosquitofish. Cognition, 112, 343–348.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Desjardins, J. K., & Fernald, R. D. (2010). What do fish make of mirror images? Biology Letters, 6, 744–747.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eichenbaum, H., Sauvage, M., Fortin, N., Robitsek, R. J., & Komorovski, R. (2012). A comparative analysis of episodic memory. In T. R. Zentall & E. A. Wasserman (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of comparative psychology. Oxford: Oxford University Press (in press).

  • Graves, L. A., Heller, E. A., Pack, A. I., & Abel, T. (2003). Sleep deprivation selectively impairs memory consolidation for contextual fear conditioning. Learning and Memory, 10, 168–176.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kirsch, I., Lynn, S. J., Vigorito, M., & Miller, R. R. (2004). The role of cognition in classical and operant conditioning. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 60, 369–392.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kotrschal, A., & Taborsky, B. (2010). Environmental change enhances cognitive abilities in fish. PLoS Biology, 8(4), e1000351. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1000351.

  • Kuba, M. J., Byrne, R. A., & Burghardt, G. M. (2010). A new method for studying problem solving and tool use in stingrays (Potamotrygon castexi). Animal Cognition, 13, 507–513.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Masseck, O. A., & Hoffmann, K.-P. (2008). Responses to moving visual stimuli in pretectal neurons of the small-spotted dogfish (Scyliorhinus canicula). Journal of Neurophysiology, 99, 200–207.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Merker, B. (2007). Consciousness without a cerebral cortex: A challenge for neuroscience and medicine. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 30, 63–81.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nagel, T. (1974). What is it like to be a bat? Philosophical Review, 83, 435–450.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nicolau, M. C., Akaârira, M., Gamundía, A., González, J., & Rial, R. V. (2000). Why we sleep: The evolutionary pathway to the mammalian sleep. Progress in Neurobiology, 62, 379–406.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nilsson, J., Kristiansen, T. S., Fosseidengen, J. E., Fernö, A., & van den Bos, R. (2008). Learning in cod (Gadus morhua): Long trace interval retention. Animal Cognition, 11, 215–222.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nilsson, J., Kristiansen, T. S., Fosseidengen, J. E., Stien, L. H., Fernö, A., & van den Bos, R. (2010). Learning and anticipatory behaviour in a “sit-and-wait” predator: The Atlantic halibut. Behavioral Processes, 83, 257–266.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nordgreen, J., Joseph, P., Garner, J. P., Janczak, A. M., Ranheim, B., Muir, W. M., et al. (2009). Thermonociception in fish: Effects of two different doses of morphine on thermal threshold and post-test behaviour in goldfish (Carassius auratus). Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 119, 101–107.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nordgreen, J., Janczak, A. M., Hovland, A. L., Ranheim, B., & Horsberg, T. E. (2010). Trace classical conditioning in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss): What do they learn? Animal Cognition, 13, 303–309.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oates, J., Manica, A., & Bshary, R. (2010). The shadow of the future affects cooperation in a cleaner fish. Current Biology, 20, R472–R473.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rose, J. (2002). The neurobehavioral nature of fishes and the question of awareness and pain. Reviews in Fisheries Science, 10, 1–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schuster, S., Wöhl, S., Griebsch, M., & Klostermeier, I. (2006). Animal cognition: How Archer Fish learn to down rapidly moving targets. Current Biology, 16, 378–383.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Skinner, B. F. (1984). The evolution of behavior. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 41, 217–221.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sneddon, L. U., Braithwaite, V. A., & Gentle, M. J. (2003). Do fish have nociceptors: Evidence for the evolution of a vertebrate sensory system. Proceedings of the Royal Society, 270, 1115–1121.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stotz, K., & Allen, C. (2011). From cell-surface receptors to higher learning: A whole world of experience. In K. S. Plaisance & T. A. C. Reydon (Eds.), The philosophy of behavioral biology (pp. 85–123). Berlin: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tennant, W. A., & Bitterman, M. E. (1975). Blocking and overshadowing in two species of fish. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 1, 22–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tulving, E., & Markowitsch, H. J. (1998). Episodic and declarative memory: Role of the hippocampus. Hippocampus, 8, 198–204.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vargas, J. P., López, J. C., & Portavella, M. (2009). What are the functions of fish brain pallium? Brain Research Bulletin, 79, 436–440.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Varner, G. L. (2011) Review of Victoria Braithwaite, Do Fish Feel Pain? (Oxford University Press, 2010). Environmental Ethics, 33, 219–222.

  • Whiteman, E. A., & Côte, I. M. (2004). Monogamy in marine fishes. Biological Reviews, 79, 351–375.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yokogawa, T., Marin, W., Faraco, J., Pézeron, G., Appelbaum, L., Zhang, J., et al. (2007). Characterization of sleep in Zebrafish and Insomnia in hypocretin receptor mutants. PLoS Biology, 5(10), e277. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0050277.

  • Zhou, W., & Crystal, J. D. (2009). Evidence for remembering when events occurred in a rodent model of episodic memory. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106, 9525–9529.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou, M., & Smith, G. T. (2006). Structure and sexual dimorphism of the electrocommunication signals of the weakly electric fish, Adontosternarchus devenanzii. Journal of Experimental Biology, 209, 4809–4818.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

I am grateful for comments to audiences at the University of Utrecht, the Ruhr University, Bochum, and at the Leibniz Institute for Inland Fisheries and Freshwater Ecology in Berlin, and for comments on the manuscript by Michael Trestman, Bernice Bovenkerk, members of the “Spackled” group at Indiana University, and two anonymous referees for the journal. I also gratefully acknowledge the support of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and Indiana University during the time that this paper was prepared, and the hospitality of the Ruhr University-Bochum during my sabbatical year.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Program in Cognitive Science and Department of History and Philosophy of Science, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, 47405, USA

    Colin Allen

Authors
  1. Colin Allen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Colin Allen.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Allen, C. Fish Cognition and Consciousness. J Agric Environ Ethics 26, 25–39 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10806-011-9364-9

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10806-011-9364-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation