Understanding zebrafish cognition

Zebrafish (Danio rerio) are rapidly becoming a popular model organism in translational and cognitive neuroscience research. Both larval and adult zebrafish continue to increase our understanding of cognitive mechanisms and their genetic and pharmacological modulation. Here, we discuss the developing utility of zebrafish in understanding cognitive phenotypes and their deficits, relevant to a wide range human brain disorders. We also discuss the potential of zebrafish models for high-throughput genetic mutant and small molecule screening (e.g., amnestics, cognitive enhancers, neurodevelopmental/neurodegenerative drugs), which becomes critical for identifying novel candidate genes and molecular drug targets to treat cognitive deficits. In addition to discussing the existing challenges and future strategic directions in this field, we emphasize how zebrafish models of cognitive phenotypes continue to form an interesting and rapidly emerging new field in neuroscience.