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Discussion » Questions » Animals (Pets/ Domesticated) » Goldfish can't remember anything that happened more than 10 seconds back.
Benedict Arnold

Goldfish can't remember anything that happened more than 10 seconds back.

Is that true or false? How do you know? 

Posted - March 7, 2017
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Responses


  • 7683
    I wish I was one, I would know then;((
      March 7, 2017 5:14 PM MST
    3

  • I don't know if it's memory or instinct but mine all come rushing to the side of their pond when I go out to feed them. 
      March 7, 2017 5:18 PM MST
    3

  • 7683
    Instinct...I think Didge, animal instinct is very powerful, catching a butterfly may be tougher than catching a fish, the smaller the animal, the larger its instinct,..I feel!
      March 7, 2017 5:20 PM MST
    3

  • Because they... what was the question?
      March 7, 2017 5:23 PM MST
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  • Maybe you were a goldfish in your last incarnation, Whistle. :)
      March 7, 2017 5:54 PM MST
    1

  • We'll never know what they get up to after dark, WW. 
      March 7, 2017 5:54 PM MST
    2

  • 3191
    I have heard they have a short (9 seconds) attention span, but that is not the same as memory.  According to the second article, they have a long memory.  

    According to a small  (2000 people) study by Microsoft, humans now have a shorter attention span than goldfish, due to our use of technology.  

    http://time.com/3858309/attention-spans-goldfish/

    https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.geneticliteracyproject.org/2016/07/25/another-modern-myth-shrinking-attention-spans/amp/


      March 7, 2017 5:57 PM MST
    3

  • A terrible thought, Bozette. Maybe that accounts for my own memory which is becoming spottier as the years pass. 
      March 7, 2017 8:37 PM MST
    3

  • 3191
    Memory and attention span are two different things, Didge.  

    In one respect, it is sad that people (overall, individuals vary) have such a short attention span, in another, it shows the adaptability of the human brain.  

    I admit to having a problem with people who cannot focus long enough to read an article...or to even write words, for that matter, instead posting "tl;dr".  And while I appreciate - from personal necessity and experience - the benefits of multitasking, I realize that whenever we multitask, we take away from all tasks.  Personally, I prefer to give all of my attention to one focus, but that is not always possible.  
      March 7, 2017 9:24 PM MST
    2

  • You took me right back to 1980 with that. There was this one job I had...
      March 7, 2017 9:30 PM MST
    2

  • 5808
    incredible haha
      March 7, 2017 8:49 PM MST
    2

  • Dear Dozy,
    Do you know, is the UK DAILY MAIL one of the good quality newspapers?

    "According to research at Plymouth University, goldfish have a memory span of up to three months - and can even tell the time....They even clustered around a lever as feeding hour approached, apparently remembering it was nearly lunchtime."

     http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1106884/Three-second-memory-myth-Fish-remember-months.html#ixzz4ah5NAKZF 
      March 7, 2017 6:38 PM MST
    3

  • It was the behaviour of our own fish that made me ask this question. If the grandkids go near them they run away and hide but any time the Didgerina or I approach they rush up to the side of the pond wanting a handout. (That doesn't happen after they've been fed.)
      March 7, 2017 8:39 PM MST
    2

  • Sorry, I missed your first question. I don't know about the Daily Mail. There was a time when the London Times was a voice of authority but then Rupert Murdoch bought it and it fell into disrepute. I usually stick with the Guardian which I know to have an outstanding reputation among British papers.
      March 7, 2017 9:31 PM MST
    1

  • Waldorff/JohnO liked the Guardian also...Dozy, have you talked to him about aMug, might he come?

    Well, we know your goldfish have memories at least one day long (or however often you feed them)...
      March 7, 2017 10:10 PM MST
    1

  • We haven't been in touch for more than a year. He wasn't interested in Blurtit and I doubt that he'd want to come here, more's the pity. I think he's writing another book just now though there's nothing about it on his web site: http://www.chrisdews.com.
      March 7, 2017 10:20 PM MST
    1

  • 739
    The Daily Mail is a middle market paper. It has a reputation for some very slanted, right-wing journalism. It also has high sales figures. That said, it is certainly not true that Goldfish have short memories. See this from the eminently reputable science radio show, The Naked Scientists.
    https://www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/interviews/do-fish-really-have-3-second-memory
      March 8, 2017 7:08 AM MST
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  • Interesting link. Thanks. I can bear out their comment that the fish can recognise their owners. Mine come to the side for food if Mrs D or I go to the pool, but if anybody else stands in the same place, they dive for cover and hide.
      March 8, 2017 9:25 AM MST
    1

  • That IS an interesting link...especially the part about distinguishing Bach from Stravinsky!
      March 8, 2017 10:07 AM MST
    0

  • I couldn't resist:
    "The Daily Mail is a reactionary, neo-fascist tabloid rag masquerading as a "traditional values," middle-class newspaper that is, in many ways, the second-worst of the British gutter press (only Rupert Murdoch's Sun is worse). Its weighty Sunday counterpart is the Mail on Sunday.
    The Daily Mail is to the U.K. what the New York Post is to the United States, and what the Drudge Report is to the Internet: to wit, gossipy tabloid "journalism" for those who cannot digest serious news, with a flippantly wingnut editorial stance. Like the Daily Express, the Daily Mail tries to appear more upmarket and respectable than the red-top British tabloids though it does sometimes go in for the full front-page picture or headline characteristic of the populist tabloids. It is also notorious for its frequent harassment of individuals, campaigns of hate directed at various minorities and wilfully deceiving and lying to its readers"
    From RationalWiki, the Wiki you can trust.

      March 8, 2017 7:17 AM MST
    1

  • Well! THAT certainly doesn't leave much doubt as to where RationalWiki stands... :)
      March 8, 2017 10:02 AM MST
    1

  • 5808
    t's cool
    neither can I
    sometimes
      March 7, 2017 7:56 PM MST
    3

  • Tell me about it. :(
      March 7, 2017 8:39 PM MST
    2

  • 22891
    theres no way of knowing but i wouldnt be surprised if that was true
      March 7, 2017 8:51 PM MST
    2