What do fish make of mirror images?
What do fish make of mirror images?
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DOI：
10.1098/rsbl.2010.0247
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发表时间：
2010-12-23
期刊：
影响因子：
3.3
通讯作者：
Fernald, Russell D.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Desjardins, Julie K.;Fernald, Russell D.
鱼类对镜子表现出攻击性，这表明它们将其视为另一个个体，而在某些哺乳动物中，对镜子的行为反应可能是自我认知的证据。由于鱼无法自我识别，我们询问它们是否能够区分与镜像搏斗和与真鱼搏斗。我们比较了每种情况下的分子、生理和行为反应，发现大脑基因表达水平存在巨大差异。尽管这些条件下的攻击行为水平和循环雄激素水平都没有差异，但与镜像战斗的男性在与杏仁核和海马同源的大脑区域中立即早期基因（IEG）表达高于对照组。由于杏仁核反应与其他物种的恐惧和恐惧条件反射有关，因此与镜子战斗时大脑的较高水平激活表明鱼类在与镜像战斗时会经历恐惧。显然，鱼识别出镜像中的一些不寻常的东西，并且不同的大脑反应可能反映了认知差异。
Fish act aggressively towards their mirror image suggesting that they consider it another individual, whereas in some mammals behavioural response to mirrors may be an evidence of self-recognition. Since fish cannot self-recognize, we asked whether they could distinguish between fighting a mirror image and fighting a real fish. We compared molecular, physiological and behavioural responses in each condition and found large differences in brain gene expression levels. Although neither levels of aggressive behaviour nor circulating androgens differed between these conditions, males fighting a mirror image had higher immediate early gene (IEG) expression in brain areas homologous to the amygdala and hippocampus than controls. Since amygdalar responses are associated with fear and fear conditioning in other species, higher levels of brain activation when fighting a mirror suggest fish experience fear in response to fights with a mirror image. Clearly, the fish recognize something unusual about the mirror image and the differential brain response may reflect a cognitive distinction.