Visual discrimination learning in the fire-bellied toad Bombina orientalis |
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| Authors: | Jenkin Sarah E M Laberge Frédéric |
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| Institution: | (1) Department of Comparative Anatomy, Jagiellonian University, Ingardena 6, 30-060 Krakow, Poland;(2) Center for Systematic Biology and Evolution, Academy of Natural Sciences, 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, PA 19103, USA |
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| Abstract: | This study explored the visual discrimination learning ability of fire-bellied toads (Bombina orientalis). Two groups of toads were trained in a simultaneous visual discrimination task involving video footage of either black crickets
on a white background (black-cricket toads) or white crickets on a black background (white-cricket toads). Fifteen widely spaced acquisition trials were followed by 12 reversal trials. Successful learning was observed by decreased
incorrect snapping and reduced latency to snap at the correct stimulus (S+) during acquisition; however, white-cricket toads
executed significantly more incorrect snaps than did black-cricket toads. Both groups of toads could master the reversal task
as measured by latency to snap at S+, but not as measured by the proportion of incorrect snaps. Despite the stronger potency
of the black-cricket stimulus, the results showed that toads can learn a simultaneous discrimination task and a reversal of
its contingency. This elaborate form of learning appears to be conserved among vertebrates. |
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