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Question
#34828. student
asks:
Is it true that a goldfish's memory span only lasts three seconds?
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BelperJon
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I can't remember!
Jul 02 03, 9:07 AM
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mochyn
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What was the question?
Jul 02 03, 9:18 AM
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12013
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It's not true. Goldfish have long memories. I read somewhere (don't remember where) that the myth arose during the early years of the 20th century. Apparently a pet supplies' distributor found he had difficulty shifting goldfish bowls in America because too many potential customers were unconvinced by his assurances that forcing a creature to swim round and round in a very confined space wasn't cruel. Adding the little lie about 3 second memory spans to his sales patter seems to have worked wonders; goldfish bowls are common now & loads of people believe the myth. It is a myth though. Believe it or not you can even train goldfish to do a few simple things, but you need lot of patience and I don't think that dolphins are exactly getting nervous about the competition.
Dec 31 06, 3:34 AM
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Arpeggionist
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Still exceeds the memory and attention spans of some people I know...
Dec 31 06, 6:08 AM
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McGruff 
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I can't find anything to back up the sales pitch story, however, the following makes myth of the three-second memory:
Studies have found the concept of fish having three second memories is a myth and goldfish memories can last as long as three months.
Veterinarian Dr Richmond Loh says fish have been tested by making them use levers to get food.
"They further refined that learned behaviour by just allowing only one hour in the whole day that, when the fish pushes the lever that the food comes down," he said.
"So it didn't take too long before the fish actually figured out that."
 http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200605/s1645894.htm
Dec 31 06, 10:05 AM
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