Comparative neuro-behavioral study on auditory cognition in songbirds and fish

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We investigated the auditory cognitive brain mechanism of songbird communication in budgerigars, and the cognition of oscillatory stripes of oblique parallel lines in goldfish.In the study of budgerigars, tape-recorded male songs were exposed to each adult female in a sound attenuated box. We counted the number of Zenk-IR (immunoreactive) cells in the female brains, as an indication of activated neurons by the song stimulation. As a result, we found dense immunoreactive neurons in the NCM (neostriatum caudale pars medialis). The more songs were complex, the more were the Zenk protein expressed neurons. Other song-activated neurons were observed in the NIL (neostriatum intermedium pars lateralis) near by the NCM, and field L1, field L3, caudomedial neostriatum in anterior areas of the budgerigar brain.The research of goldfish cognitive behavior was firstly carried out to study whether they can discriminate striped patterns made of horizontal lines out of vertical ones, and we found that they can discriminate those directions. In the succeeding studies, we indicated that goldfish can use both the direction strategy and angle strategy to discriminate between two obliquely striped patterns with different angle/direction. This means that goldfish has two strategies, angle and direction, to discriminate two oblique lines. If so, each goldfish might use the angle or direction as an own preferred strategy. However, we could not show the fact indicating that goldfish have priority to use one strategy over the other.