A goldfish learns how to drive a car just like a human does. It takes a few days to master the skill.
The Ben-Gurion University of the Nevev in Israel discovered that a goldfish can learn to drive a car. The Israel Science Foundation supported the research.
We meant that the movements of the goldfish were converted into multi-directional movements by the car, which was essentially a water tank with motor/s under. An overhead LIDAR system, a computer and a camera pointed down recorded the fish’s movements.
LIDAR is a remote sensing technology which uses a pulsed light laser to measure ranges. This technology is used in modern autonomous cars.
The research was published in with a video. The video was posted by one of the researchers on Twitter (embedded below). You can also see the second part of this video by clicking the embed social media post or reading the article.
The researchers created a test to see if the fish could navigate. The researchers placed a target in a room adjacent to the tank. After a few days of training, the fish was able to successfully navigate to the target. Even after being interrupted or introducing false targets, the subject was able to navigate to the target.
Two conclusions were drawn from the experiment.
This study suggests that navigational abilities are universal and not specific to an environment. It also shows that the cognitive abilities of goldfish to learn complex tasks in a completely different environment than the one in which they were raised are not limited by the environment in which they live. It is difficult at first, as anyone who has attempted to learn to ride a bicycle or drive a car will tell you.
Givon, Matan Samina is a MSc student in Biomedical Engineering Department at the Faculty of Engineering Sciences. Prof. Ohad Shahar, head of School of Brain Sciences and Cognition, and Prof. Ronen Segev of Life Sciences & Biomedical Engineering Departments conducted the study.