James Lu: Week 13 - Memory of a Goldfish
Memory of a Goldfish
Practically every single country in the world has their own translation of sorts for this common belief. China has "金鱼的记忆," and France has "Avoir la mémoire d'un poisson rouge." In fact, I know that Angelica, a dear friend of mine, considers herself to have the memory of a goldfish. However, this is nothing more than a myth, a lie that has spread to the four corners of the Earth and taken up residence in the recesses of our brains.
It is almost trivial to prove that goldfish have superb memorizes: simple experiments where food is used reveal the month-long memories of goldfish. By leaving food and feeding goldfish on one side of the tank rather than the other, goldfish will quickly adjust their behavior and remember to relocate to where
But what can we do with such a shocking conclusion? Unfortunately, almost nothing so far. Public opinion of goldfish is firmly in the gutter: to say someone has the memory of the goldfish is nothing short of an insult. In fact, one of Disney's most popular movies, Finding Nemo, is based on the premise 
of a fish that has memory loss. This may be the one of the main causes for this global belief regarding the memories of fish; while Dory is a Regal Blue Tang, he still represents to much of the world all the fishes of the world, and his memory loss has propelled the myth of goldfish to greater and deeper locations. However, there may be hope for all the goldfish proponents around the world. With the increase of nongovernmental organizations and wildlife charities that spend millions on trying to educate the masses about the environment, the myths surrounding the memories of goldfish and fish in general have slowly been debunked. While most people who do not own fish almost never interact with fish in their life besides when it goes into their belly, the PR teams of fish are slowly building up a movement that will hopefully dismiss these global misconceptions regarding the intelligence of fish and specifically the memories of goldfish.
On the brighter side, Angelica, who has described herself as having the memory of a goldfish, may actually have the greatest memory of us all! I sure cannot remember things from months past; for her to have the month-long memory of a goldfish and to brag about it seems almost prideful in hindsight. Maybe one day the world will finally realize the brainpower behind the common goldfish, and stop accidentally describing our memories as being vastly superior to the average human.
First Goldfish from
Second Goldfish from
Finding Nemo from
Hi James! I also coincidentally, happen to know someone who goes by "Angelica" with the memory of a goldfish. Why, what a small world we live in! Despite taking French and being Chinese, I've actually only heard of the phrase in English since each language has so many different sayings. I actually own goldfish at home, but I haven't interacted with them in a while. I wanted pet goldfish when I was six, but its been ten years since then so now my dad is a lot more invested in them than I am. I surely pity these poor creatures for the misconceptions about their memory and shall support your noble cause to give the true power of a goldfish's memory the recognition it deserves.
ReplyDeleteHi James, what an interesting post for this topic. I have definitely heard the phrase, "memory of a goldfish" offhandedly, but I never thought much of it till your post. I really like that you included specific experiments and research projects that were undertaken to debunk the phrase. I also appreciate that you made the connection between Finding Nemo and the phrase. I love Finding Nemo, and I never though till now about the subconscious connection I make between fish and bad memory. It really shows the power that certain pieces of media can have on the conversation around us. Looking forward to your next post!
ReplyDeleteHey James, your blog topic was certainly very interesting and engaging. I was definitely surprised to learn that goldfish have such a surprisingly powerful memory, since the saying “memory of a goldfish” is so immensely profound and common. I think that it is even more astonishing that this misconception of goldfish as creatures with weak memories has spread throughout the world and other cultures. I wonder where this phrase originated from, although I definitely agree with you that popular culture and movies have helped propagate this misconception of goldfish as creatures with weak memorization skills. I do think that as we continue to educate ourselves on other creatures and marine life, this misconception of fish as creatures with weak intellectual capabilities will be challenged. In the meantime however, I have the perfectly clever comeback ready in case someone tries to insult my memory by using this common saying!
ReplyDeleteHey James, your blog topic was actually very contrasting to my typical understanding, as I'd often use the phrase of having the "memory of a goldfish" as a mild insult to some of my more forgetful family members and friends. After years of using this as an insult, this really makes me wonder where I heard it to start off this massive discontinuity between reality and my understanding of the phrase. It's actually quite ironic how amazingly well goldfish are capable of remembering and comprehending things from times past. Considering how I messed up with this one phrase, I'm now starting to reconsider the different saying and facets of my language that I use on a daily basis, and am much more likely to look into other sayings and analogies that I have been taking for granted.
ReplyDeleteHi James! The way you started your blog was creatively appealing because of the anecdote you introduced. Myth, being no more “than a lie that has spread to the four corners of Earth” is such a clear definition on how it resides in our brains. Many times people tend to underestimate the value of certain things simply due to the standard that is set for them currently in the society. These goldfish begin to roam around and change their behavior according to the setting they are in, meaning that the phrase “forgetful fishes” that has constantly been used for representing someone who doesn’t have good memory is not valid because they are able to reflect on the older memories they have had and take action accordingly. By this logic, I do agree with you that we cannot judge the importance of the role fishes play in our world, especially because of their great help for research that they conduct. Thank you so much for giving me an insight into the importance that goldfish have, which I hope to learn more about in your future blog post!
ReplyDeleteHi James! I've always heard about sayings that vaguely connect goldfish to having bad memories, but I didn't know that it was so widespread. Although I never took the time to look into it myself, I was certainly surprised to learn that it was common in cultures outside of English-speaking countries. I wonder if the stereotype was something that originated here and spread to the rest of the world through American media, or if it came from a foreign culture. I thought the experiment investigating goldfish memories was interesting, as I never expected that goldfish could develop such complex behavioral patterns and even track time and their surroundings so well.
ReplyDeleteHello James, it is crazy to me that goldfish actually have good memories, mainly because of the way they are portrayed to be dumb. Goldfishes aren't the only animals to be portrayed falsely. Mice are said to be in love with cheese, but that is a myth. They are actually lured in by peanut butter. There is a myth that dogs hate cats, but my aunts raised a dog and cat who are friends with each other. This also reminds me of Lord of the Flies, where Piggy is the smartest amongst the pack, but his skills are never utilized because he is portrayed to be a loser.
ReplyDeleteHi James! I've heard of the goldfish myth quite often. Maybe it's the goldfish's blank expression or its role as a stock pet fish in media that lead to the assumption that they are empty-minded creatures. I find it really interesting how many countries all came to the same conclusion about goldfish universally! It's hilarious how goldfish actually have high levels of intelligence for the reputation we've seemingly built up for them. I got curious and searched up what the actual dumbest animals were and I got a barely-factual list of animals that are not really dumb but just are living contradictions. One example were Pandas who are supposedly carnivores but eat primarily plants.
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