A new study of freshwater clay fish by the University of Bordeaux in France shows that these shellfish are suffering from primitive anxiety, which may have something in common with the more mature human emotions and evolutionary origin. I will. The researchers said that the most important thing is that a drug called chlordiazepine (CDZ) can calm and retreat shellfish, and chlordiazepine can be used to treat human anxiety.
PASCalFossat and colleagues used mild but repetitive electrical stimulation to maximize the stress of certain freshwater redfish, and compared their behavior to other unstimulated freshwater redfish. Made it light cement fish usually like dark water, so the researchers designed a plus-shaped aquarium with two bright “arms” extending from the center, while the other two are still in the dark "Arm". .. Support arm".
When they placed the freshwater clay fish in this new environment, they also observed that the unstimulated freshwater clay fish stayed in the black arms of the aquarium longer. Explore the shiny arm. However, in this positively shaped aquarium, the behavior of the stimulated freshwater clay fish is so different that it rarely falls into the arms of the bright aquarium. Fossat and other researchers have determined that the bright avoidance behavior of these irritating freshwater clay fish is caused by elevated levels of serotonin in the brain, and found that this neurotransmitter can be injected. It disturbs freshwater clay fish. But when the researchers used CDZ for stimulating freshwater clay fish, these freshwater clay fish began to explore the bright areas of the aquarium and became less stressed. Based on these findings, the researchers say that complex emotions such as inwardness and gratitude may not be unique to mammals and other vertebrates with complex cognitive functions.