Goldfish memory longer than ‘3 seconds’? It’s old news

by Alex Zaharov-Reutt

Tuesday, 19 February 2008

Page 1 of 2 ! Rory Stokes, 15 year old student of the Australian Science and Mathematics School in Adelaide, Australia, and a finalist in the 2008 BHP Billiton Science awards, has proven that goldfish have a memory span far greater than 3 seconds – but he was far from the first to do so. Although many have believed that a goldfish only has a memory span of 3 seconds, with some using that as an excuse to keep goldfish in small bowls, this belief is an urban myth that was disproven long ago. The latest proof to do the rounds of online news services is thanks to Rory Stokes, a 15 year old student whose project won him a finalist spot in the prestigious Australian Science Awards , sponsored by mining giant BHP Billiton. A news story by Australian public TV and radio broadcaster, the Australian Broadcasting Service (ABC), claims Stokes has debunked the myth that goldfish only have a 3 second memory span. While we certainly do praise Stokes for his inquisitive mind and his compelling proof that goldfish do indeed have a much longer memory span, congratulate him for being a finalist in a prestigious Science Awards program, and sincerely hope that he goes onto make great discoveries in the world of science in the future, a little research could have easily saved Stokes the trouble. After all, why re-invent the wheel or spend a lot of time ‘discovering’ something that is already known, if the essential first step of some research uncovers that someone else – and in this case many other people – have already discovered the same thing? Having said that, there’s nothing like proving something for yourself so you can see it with your own eyes, and Stokes’ experiences and discovery that goldfish do indeed have a long memory span would no doubt have been quite exciting, especially if he didn’t already know if goldfish had a long memory span or not, and once again we do praise Stokes for his discovery. You see, some time ago, I remember receiving an email with one of those funny video clips attached within. What I saw was purported to be a famous Japanese animal trainer who had also wondered about the myth that goldfish only had a 3 second memory span. So he proceeded to train a series of goldfish to swim in unison and move to his command, and this he did quite successfully. You can see this video on YouTube for yourself, it's quite interesting to see. I then typed in ‘trained goldfish’ into YouTube and up came dozens more video clips of goldfish performing all kinds of cool and crazy stunts, all of which are presumably only possible if a goldfish has a long memory. Even typing ‘goldfish memory span’ into Google produces 15,800 results, many of which come from Q&A sites on the Internet, busting the myth for all to see. So, while we have proven that research is an essential element before embarking upon any project, it is still very interesting to read Stokes’ reasoning and method of discovery, which you’ll find on page 2! << First page <   1 2 Next page > Last page - Post your comment >>

 

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