News release

From: The Royal Society

Streaming for fish? Screen-based social exposure disrupts brain development

Young individuals learn and develop through social contact. We studied whether non-interactive screen-based social exposure supports brain development as well as interactive, live social contact. We raised juvenile guppies under three conditions: live interaction with other fish, video playback of fish on a screen, or minimal social contact. After a cogntivie task, we measured brain size and brain regions. Fish raised with live interactions developed larger brains and olfactory bulbs than fish exposed to videos, whose brains resembled those with minimal social contact. These findings suggest that non-interactive screen-based social cues may not replace live interaction during development.

Net-fish – Guppies raised with only video exposure to other fish developed smaller brains than those interacting with live fish. Juvenile guppies were raised with either live interaction with other fish, screen exposure to videos of fish, or minimal social contact. Researchers then measured their brain size and cognitive performance. Fish raised with live interactions had bigger brains than fish only exposed to videos of other fish, whose brains resembled those with minimal social contact. The difference was particularly seen in the olfactory bulbs, a highly plastic region that is central to social learning.