7 seconds- fishs memory?

When I was a kid, I’ve heard a romantic bedtime story from my mom, which was about the goldfish: “Honey, you know what? The little goldfish lived in our tank, it can remember things no more that 7 seconds. Every 7 seconds is a brand new start for it, so, although it’s along, that little goldfish would never feel boring, it’s not lonely at all!” When we treat this talking as a fairy tale, it’s nice and adorable, but sometimes it was treated as a truth by people, like my friends always said to me: learn something from fish-don’t put so much things in your brain! Is that really believable that fish’s memory can only keep 7 seconds? If that fish is a stupid one, shouldn’t its memory only stay an eye blinking time? And if it takes a bit of food, two seconds pass, can they forget what they are eating?
In order to find the truth, scientists of the University of Michigan in last century started to work with the memory of goldfish. In order to see if the goldfish has the long-time memory, staffs in that research put several goldfishes in an extra-long tank, and gave a beam of light from one side of that water tank, after 20 seconds of that light came, they released one electric current to the water. Soon enough, the memory built, and when the beam of light appears next time, all of the goldfish chose to escape from one side to another- the side without light appearing. The researchers also found out that after the fine training process, the memory to the electric in goldfishes’ brain can contain more than one month! Instead of just 7 seconds.
Finished the short-time memory, let’s talk about if the long-time memory for fishes is possible. Because for the short-time one, it may just the work of stress respond: the electric currents followed the lights every time, so when the fishes felt the light, their Spinal nerve would drive them to escape but not with their memories help. But if people can prove the existence of long-time memory, things would be different. So, in one time, one professor in the University of Ilinois at Urbana-champaign did a test, which cost him 5 years total. In that test, professor Erikson raised 20 catfish in one big tank, what he did is shouting several times of “fish! Fish!” during feeding process. Couple of mouths passed, every days shouting can attract at least 19 of catfish. One year passed, in the next summer, when professor repeated this feeding process, there were 16 of the catfish came. And when five years passed, professor Erikson found out surprisingly that the “fish! fish!” can still helps him collect 9 of them, and in the second day, that number raised to 16.
So, here’s the answer: according to the different research, fishes do have memory that longer than 7 seconds, some of them can even long enough to years! When next times you are told to learn from fish- remember less, just let them shut up and learn more first!

Citation:http://thegoldfishtank.com/goldfish-memory-three-second-memory-myth/
http://www.guokr.com/article/116781/
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One thought on “7 seconds- fishs memory?

  1. Sufian Hadi Abulohom

    You know what, I honestly thought of the same thing when I first watched Finding Nemo.
    But, what types of fish are we focusing on.
    The research focused on gold fish, maybe it’s another type of fish. Dory from finding nemo is a Paracanthurus (Blue Tang fish). Maybe it’s fish similar to Dory whom experience short term memory loss? Maybe 7 seconds is exaggerated little? Or Maybe it’s just a myth?
    I think it’s probably a myth too, but I’m not a fish expert that have studied all types of fish. But based on little research I’ve done, I think it’s a misconception.
    Great Idea! Something I would’ve never thought about researching.

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