One-trial associative learning modifies food odor preferences of a terrestrial mollusc (original) (raw)
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An analysis of associative learning in a terrestrial mollusc
Journal of Comparative Physiology ? A, 1981
We have recently demonstrated that associative learning can play an important role in the regulation of food selection behavior of Limax maxirnus, a terrestrial mollusc. The tendency of Limax to approach a normally attractive odor generated by a food source such as carrot or potato can be markedly reduced if exposure to that odor is paired with exposure to a bitter taste (quinidine sulfate). We now report that variables known to influence associative learning by vertebrates (the operations of a secondorder conditioning procedure, blocking and US-preexposure) similarly influence associative learning by Limax.
Analysis of associative learning in the terrestrial mollusc Limax maximus. II. Appetitive learning
Journal of Comparative Physiology A, 1990
The odor and taste processing systems of the terrestrial mollusc Limax maximus have been shown capable of a number of complex computations. Most of the complex higher-order features of Limax learning have been demonstrated using differential aversive conditioning. The present experiments probe the appetitive learning ability of Limax. In the first experiment a differential appetitive classical conditioning procedure was used. An aversive CS + odor was paired with an attractive taste while a CS -odor was explicitly unpaired with the attractive taste. This appetitive conditioning procedure dramatically increased the preference for the CS + odor. Further experiments determined the time course of acquisition, the effect of an extinction procedure and long-term retention of the appetitive conditioning. Now that Limax has been shown capable of appetitive conditioning, the neural network simulation of Limax learning, called LIMAX, can be examined for its ability to display appetitive conditioning.
Learning & Memory, 1998
We compared behaviorally and physiologically the olfactory responses of slugs (Limax marginatus) that had been subjected to aversive, appetitive, or unpaired training with food odors (carrot or cucumber). In the aversive training, the slugs were exposed to the food odor as a conditioned stimulus (CS), and then quinidine sulfate solution as an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) was immediately applied to the lip of the slugs. This training caused a decrease in preference level for the CS. The unpaired training, in which the CS and the UCS were presented to the slugs with a 5-min interval, induced no change in the preference level for the CS. In the appetitive training, the slugs were allowed to eat the CS odor source without UCS application. When we used nonstarved slugs, it was found that the preference level for the CS increased upon the appetitive training. These results indicate that each training changed the preference for the odors in a characteristic manner. In the physiological exp...
Physiology & …, 1997
Elemental and configural learning and the perception of odorant mixtures by the spiny lobster Panulirus argus. PHYSIOL BEHAV 62 (1) 169-174, 1997.-The present study used a conditioning assay to investigate if the type of learning task that spiny lobsters (Panulirus argus) were required to perform influenced the way that they perceived odorant mixtures. Mixtures were composed of 2 food-related compounds (adenosine-5-monophosphate, betaine, or L-glutamate) at concentrations that produced the same duration of searching behavior in unconditioned animals. Aversive conditioning of search behavior coupled with generalization testing was used to evaluate perceptual similarity between related mixtures. When animals were conditioned to stop searching to a binary mixture AX, they did not generalize significantly from this mixture to either of its components (A or X) , or to a binary mixture containing one novel component (AY). However, when lobsters were conditioned to avoid AX but to continue responding to AY, they generalized between AX and X and between AY and Y. The results support the hypothesis that altering the salience of a mixture's components by giving them different reinforcement contingencies changed the way that the mixtures were perceived. As a result of such conditioning, animals perceived the mixture's components as separate elements, rather than as a configuration, and, as a consequence, animals generalized between binary mixtures and their most salient or predictive components.
The procerebrum is necessary for odor-aversion learning in the terrestrial slug Limax valentianus
Learning & Memory, 2006
The terrestrial slug Limax has a highly developed ability to associate the odor of some foods (e.g., carrot juice) with aversive stimuli such as the bitter taste of quinidine solution. The procerebrum (PC) is a part of the slug’s brain thought to be involved in odor-aversion learning, but direct evidence is still lacking. Here we present evidence showing that the PC is essential for odor-aversion learning. Unlike sham-operated slugs, PC ablation 7 d prior to conditioning showed that most slugs did not avoid carrot juice in the memory retention test conducted 24 h after the conditioning. Slugs with the PC ablated 3 h, 1 d, 3 d, or 7 d after conditioning and examined by the memory retention test at 3 d after the PC ablation were also less likely to avoid carrot juice than sham-operated slugs. The PC ablation did not damage the ability of the slugs to sense attractive odor (everyday food) or innately aversive odor (onion or garlic). These results demonstrate that the PC is a necessary ...
A long-term memory for food odors in the Land snail, Achatina fulica
Behavioral Biology, 1977
Two groups ofAchatina fulica were fed either cucumber or carrot for 86 days. When subsequently tested in a Y-maze olfactometer, each group oriented preferentially toward the odor of that food which ithad previously eaten. Two separate measures showed that the memory for these odors lasted 120 days. This represents a new form of behavioral plasticity for gastropod molluscs and offers attractive advantages for the study of neuronal mechanisms in learning and memory.
Journal of Insect Behavior
Experiments were performed to test for nutrient-specific olfactory learning in the American cockroach, Periplaneta americana L. In a conditioning period, cockroaches were presented with two complementary foods, one of which contained protein and the other carbohydrate, this combination allowing them to select a nutritionally balanced diet. The foods were separated in space, and each was paired with one of two odors, citral or carvone. The cockroaches were then selectively deprived of one of the nutrients for 24 or 48 h. In the final (test) phase of the experiment the movement of the cockroaches toward the nutrient-associated odors was monitored. Associative learning was demonstrated with respect to protein, with protein-deprived cockroaches moving more frequently toward the protein-associated odor. No learned associations between carbohydrate and odor were demonstrated. These data are contrasted with similar experiments on an herbivorous insect, the locust Locusta migratoria.
Taste discrimination in conditioned taste aversion of the pond snail Lymnaea stagnalis
Journal of Experimental Biology, 2006
Lymnaea stagnalis has been widely used as a model for gaining an understanding of the molecular and behavioral mechanisms underlying learning and memory. At the behavioral level, however, it is still unclear how taste discrimination and CTA interact. We thus examined how CTA to one taste affected the feeding response induced by another appetitive food stimulus. We first demonstrated that snails have the capacity to recognize sucrose and carrot juice as distinct appetitive stimuli. We then found that snails can become conditioned (i.e. CTA) to avoid one of the stimuli and not the other. These results show that snails can distinguish between appetitive stimuli during CTA, suggesting that taste discrimination is processed upstream of the site where memory consolidation in the snail brain occurs. Moreover, we examined second-order conditioning with two appetitive stimuli and one aversive stimulus. Snails acquired second-order conditioning and were still able to distinguish between the different stimuli. Finally, we repeatedly presented the conditional stimulus alone to the conditioned snails, but this procedure did not extinguish the long-term memory of CTA in the snails. Taken together, our data suggest that CTA causes specific, irreversible and rigid changes from appetitive stimuli to aversive ones in the conditioning procedure.
Associative learning of complex odours in parasitoid host location
Chemical Senses, 2003
In this paper we address the question how hymenopteran parasitoids deal with complex odour bouquets, using Microplitis croceipes (Cresson) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) as a model. We examined the capacity of Microplitis croceipes to respond to individual compounds in flight chamber experiments after conditioning parasitoids with a mixture consisting of 2-octanone, methyl jasmonate and β-caryophyllene. Parasitoids were given a choice between single compounds from the training mixture and β-ocimene as an unrewarded alternative. When compared with control individuals lacking experience with the odour mixture, parasitoids trained to the odour blend showed an increased preference for 2-octanone and β-caryophyllene, but not for methyl jasmonate. However, when trained with methyl jasmonate alone, parasitoids were able to respond to this compound. This demonstrates that parasitoids can learn to respond to individual compounds following experience with an odour mixture. However, for certain compounds of a mixture, learning can be blocked by other mixture components. Further experiments in which parasitoids were conditioned and challenged with two compound mixes confirmed that the olfactory background can affect recognition of individual compounds. Generalization among related complex mixtures and their components: analysis of olfactory perception of mixtures in the spiny lobster. Physiol. Behav., 60, 87-95. Drost, Y.C., Lewis, W.J. and Tumlinson, J.H. (1988) Beneficial arthropod behavior mediated by airborne semiochemicals. V. Influence of rearing method, host plant, and adult experience on host-searching behavior of Microplitis croceipes (Cresson), a larval parasitoid of Heliothis. J. Chem. Ecol., 14, 1607-1616. Etiévant, P.X., Azar, M., Pham-Delègue, M.H. and Masson, C. (1984) Isolation and identification of volatile constituents of sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.). J. Agric. Food. Chem., 32, 503-509. Fitt, G.P. (1989) The ecology of Heliothis in relation to agroecosystems. Odor learning by Leptopilina boulardi, a specialist parasitoid (Hymenoptera: Eucoilidae). J. Insect Behav., 4, 743-750. Kester, K.M. and Barbosa, P. (1991) Effects of post-emergence experience on searching and landing responses to plants in the insect parasitoid, Cotesia congregata (Say). J. Insect Behav., 5, 301-320. Knudsen, J.T., Tollsten, L. and Bergström, L.G. (1993) Floral scents-a checklist of volatile compounds isolated by head-space techniques. Phytochemistry, 33, 253-280. Laloi, D., Bailez, O., Blight, M.M., Roger, B., Pham-Delegue, M.H. and Wadhams, L.J. (2000) Recognition of complex odours by restrained and free-flying honey bees, Apis mellifera. J. Chem. Ecol. 26, 2307-2319. Laloi, D., Roger, B., Blight, M.M., Wadhams, L.J. and Pham-Delegue, M.H. (1999) Individual learning ability and complex odour recognition in the honey bee, Apis mellifera L. J. Insect Behav., 12, 585-597. Laska, M. and Hudsson, R. (1993) Discriminating parts from the whole: determinants of odour mixture perception in squirrel monkeys, Saimiri sciureus. Use of learned odours by a parasitic wasp in accordance with host and food needs. Nature, 348, 635-636. Lewis W.J. and Tumlinson, J.H. (1988) Host detection by chemically mediated associative learning in a parasitic wasp. Nature, 331, 257-9. Meiners, T., Wäckers, F. and Lewis, J. (2002) The effect of molecule structure on the olfactory discrimination by the parasitoid Microplitis croceipes. R. (1970) Attractancy of some methyl ketones isolated from cheddar cheese for cheese mites.