Response to video and computer-animated images by the tiger barb, Puntius tetrazona

Video playback has become an important tool for testing certain questions a bout animal visual perception. While a few studies have compared the respon se of test subjects to live and video stimuli, it is generally assumed a pr iori that the animals will respond to the video image as if it were 'real'. Since video devices are tuned to the spectral sensitivities and flicker fu sion frequencies of the human eye and brain, it is important to conduct pre liminary tests to compare the response of test subjects between live and vi deo images. Here we compare schooling behavior of tiger barbs, Puntius tetr azona, when presented with a school of live fish, an analog video school of fish and a video of a computer-animated school of fish. Test subjects did not show a significantly different schooling behavior response to any of th ese stimuli. Additionally, when given the choice of schooling with a conspe cific versus a heterospecific, tiger barbs schooled significantly more ofte n with the conspecifics for all three stimulus formats. This study provides evidence that tiger barbs do not choose to discriminate between live and v ideo models of fish and that this technique can be used to test future ques tions concerning visual perception for this species.