Regular article
Problem solving ability of Octopus vulgaris lamarck (Mollusca, Cephalopoda)

https://doi.org/10.1016/0163-1047(90)90441-8Get rights and content

Experiments presented in this study show that Octopus vulgaris Lamarck is able to open transparent glass jars closed with a plastic plug and containing a live crab (Carcinus mediterraneus). The animals remove the plug (Operandum: O) and seize the crab (Predation :P) in one single attack. The number of unsuccessful attacks appears to decrease over a series of trials (p < .01); during the same period exploration time remains unchanged. There is a statistically significant increase in performance over trials for O (p < .01) and P (p < .05) mean times analyzed by single factor ANOVA, suggesting that the learning process is accomplished either by stimulus—response association or by trial and error. We propose that Octopus vulgaris is capable of learning the solutions of both problems, Operandum and Predation, thus showing a highly developed ability of “integration” of the behavioral program.

References (40)

  • BuytendijkF.J.J.

    Das Verhalten von Octopus nach teilweiser zerstorung des “Gehirns”

    Arch. Néerl. Physiol.

    (1933)
  • CrancherP. et al.

    Conditioning of a free operant in Octopus cyaneus Gray

    Journal of Experimental Analysis of Behavior

    (1972)
  • DewsP.B.

    Some observations on an operant in the Octopus

    Journal of Experimental Analysis of Behavior

    (1959)
  • EdwardsA.L.

    Statistical methods

    (1967)
  • GouldJ.L. et al.

    Ethology and the natural history of learning

  • HanlonR.T.

    Behavioural and body patterning characters useful in taxonomy and field identification of Cephalopods

    Malacologia

    (1988)
  • MaldonadoH.

    The positive learning process in Octopus vulgaris

    Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Physiologie

    (1963)
  • MaldonadoH.

    The control of attack by Octopus

    Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Physiologie

    (1964)
  • MatherJ.A.

    Some aspects of food intake in Octopus joubini Robson

    Veliger

    (1980)
  • MessengerJ.B.

    Evidence that Octopus is colour blind

    Journal of Experimental Biology

    (1977)
  • Cited by (93)

    • Cephalopods: Ambassadors for rethinking cognition

      2021, Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications
    • Deimatic display or nature's apotropaia: The meaning and function of the octopus iconography in the bronze age aegean

      2023, Processions: Studies of Bronze Age Ritual and Ceremony presented to Robert B. Koehl
    View all citing articles on Scopus
    1

    We gratefully acknowledge the skilled technical assistance of Mr. Gennaro Di Mare and Mr. Vincenzo Monfrecola.

    View full text