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Fish See, Fish Do
06/18/09 10:24 AM
Human smarts and fish smarts are not that different
Human intelligence, particularly the social variety (learning from others, comparing, contrasting, etc.), has long been considered a function of brain size. Bigger brains mean smarter brains. This argument has been used to denigrate or dismiss the possibility of “higher intelligence” in other species. However, increasingly, we are discovering that many other species of animals and plants demonstrate sophisticated forms of intelligence, including those comparable to some of our own.
A recent example comes in the form of a small fish called a Stickleback. Biologists have discovered that these little buggers possess a form of social learning previously considered the province only of “higher life forms,” particularly mammals. Sticklebacks use a social learning strategy to get access to the best food sources in their environment. How? They observe their fellow fish searching for and finding food, compare the choices these other fish make with their own food-finding experiences, and then alter their behavior to conform to the most successful approach they observe in the other fish. In the human realm, this would be equivalent to me observing a particular behavior in other people, either as a way of learning it myself or as a way to determine how to apply this behavior in the most effective fashion.
How can such a tiny brain carry off a learning strategy that, in our own case, requires a lot more gray matter? The scientists concluded that big brains, like those in humans, are not necessarily a pre-requisite for developing sophisticated approaches to learning and resulting behavior change. They also speculate that other animals not yet studied may exhibit forms of sophisticated learning previously attributed only to humans and other primates.
Studies of this kind keep piling up, and they remind us that we don’t have a monopoly on so-called “higher intelligence.”
A recent example comes in the form of a small fish called a Stickleback. Biologists have discovered that these little buggers possess a form of social learning previously considered the province only of “higher life forms,” particularly mammals. Sticklebacks use a social learning strategy to get access to the best food sources in their environment. How? They observe their fellow fish searching for and finding food, compare the choices these other fish make with their own food-finding experiences, and then alter their behavior to conform to the most successful approach they observe in the other fish. In the human realm, this would be equivalent to me observing a particular behavior in other people, either as a way of learning it myself or as a way to determine how to apply this behavior in the most effective fashion.
How can such a tiny brain carry off a learning strategy that, in our own case, requires a lot more gray matter? The scientists concluded that big brains, like those in humans, are not necessarily a pre-requisite for developing sophisticated approaches to learning and resulting behavior change. They also speculate that other animals not yet studied may exhibit forms of sophisticated learning previously attributed only to humans and other primates.
Studies of this kind keep piling up, and they remind us that we don’t have a monopoly on so-called “higher intelligence.”