Date of Award

Spring 5-2013

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Psychology

Committee Chair

David Echevarria

Committee Chair Department

Psychology

Committee Member 2

John Robinson

Committee Member 3

Stan Kuczaj

Committee Member 3 Department

Psychology

Committee Member 4

Bradley Green

Committee Member 4 Department

Psychology

Committee Member 5

Anthony Bell

Committee Member 5 Department

Chemistry and Biochemistry

Abstract

The zebrafish (Danio rerio) is accepted in the developmental and genomic communities as a model organism. However, the capacity for the zebrafish as a behavioral model has yet to be fully acknowledged. The research presented provides evidence validating the novel task, aids in gaining a better understanding of the learning processes, and identifies individual differences. The novel associative learning task differs from any present well established behavioral model and lends itself to future development. The task provides the zebrafish community with a high output behavioral task which is readily replicated and allows one researcher to test between eight and ten fish over a period of four weeks with a total of sixteen days of actual testing. The sixteen day period consists of all three phases of testing: habitation, training, and discrimination trials. The future growth of behavioral research in zebrafish relies on the research community to develop sophisticated behavioral models for assessing the cognitive function. Behavioral models found in the rodent and avian literature can be used as a blue print to realize the full potential of the zebrafish as a behavioral model.

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