Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 20 April 1973:
Vol. 180. no. 4083, pp. 317 - 320
DOI: 10.1126/science.180.4083.317
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

Learning: Classical and Avoidance Conditioning in the Mollusk Pleurobranchaea

George J. Mpitsos 1 and William J. Davis 2

1 Hopkins Marine Station, Pacific Grove, California 93950
2 Thimann Laboratories, University of California, Santa Cruz 95060

Naive specimens of the marine gastropod Pleurobranchaea withdraw from tactile stimulation of the oral veil and show feeding responses to food chemicals. Experimental subjects, trained by pairing touch (conditioned stimullus) with food chemicals (unconditioned stimulus), soon acquired a classically conditioned feeding response to touch alone. Control subjects that received touch alone or unpaired touch and food chemicals showed significantly fewer feeding responses to touch than did experimentals. Classically conditioned specimens were used for avoidance conditioning. Subjects that received aversive electrical stimulation when they did not withdraw from touch rapidly learned to withdraw rather than to feed in response to touch alone. Controls that received touch alone or unpaired touch and shock continued to exhibit the feeding response to touch alone. The learned responses persisted for up to 2 weeks without reinforcement before extinction, and could be demonstrated in the isolated nervous system.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Directional Avoidance Turns Encoded by Single Interneurons and Sustained by Multifunctional Serotonergic Cells.
J. Jing and R. Gillette (2003)
J. Neurosci. 23, 3039-3051
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The Role of the Escape Swim Motor Network in the Organization of Behavioral Hierarchy and Arousal in Pleurobranchaea.
R. Gillette and J. Jing (2001)
Integr. Comp. Biol. 41, 983-992
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Escape Swim Network Interneurons Have Diverse Roles in Behavioral Switching and Putative Arousal in Pleurobranchaea.
J. Jing and R. Gillette (2000)
J Neurophysiol 83, 1346-1355
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Cellular Traces of Behavioral Classical Conditioning Can Be Recorded at Several Specific Sites in a Simple Nervous System.
K. Staras, G. Kemenes, and P. R. Benjamin (1999)
J. Neurosci. 19, 347-357
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Neurophysiological Correlates of Unconditioned and Conditioned Feeding Behavior in the Pond Snail Lymnaea stagnalis.
K. Staras, G. Kemenes, and P. R. Benjamin (1998)
J Neurophysiol 79, 3030-3040
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The Cerebellum and Red Nucleus Are Not Required for In Vitro Classical Conditioning of the Turtle Abducens Nerve Response.
C. W. Anderson and J. Keifer (1997)
J. Neurosci. 17, 9736-9745
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
In Vitro Appetitive Classical Conditioning of the Feeding Response in the Pond Snail Lymnaea stagnalis.
G. Kemenes, K. Staras, and P. R. Benjamin (1997)
J Neurophysiol 78, 2351-2362
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Mechanisms of memory.
L. Squire (1986)
Science 232, 1612-1619
   Abstract »    PDF »
Calcium-mediated reduction of ionic currents: a biophysical memory trace.
D. Alkon (1984)
Science 226, 1037-1045
   Abstract »    PDF »
Differential classical conditioning of a defensive withdrawal reflex in Aplysia californica.
T. Carew, R. Hawkins, and E. Kandel (1983)
Science 219, 397-400
   Abstract »    PDF »
Molecular biology of learning: modulation of transmitter release.
E. Kandel and J. Schwartz (1982)
Science 218, 433-443
   Abstract »    PDF »
The in vitro Classical Conditioning of the Gill Withdrawal Reflex of Aplysia californica.
K. LUKOWIAK and C. SAHLEY (1981)
Science 212, 1516-1518
   Abstract »    PDF »
Associative Behavioral Modification in Hermissenda: Cellular Correlates.
T. J. CROW and D. L. ALKON (1980)
Science 209, 412-414
   Abstract »    PDF »
Retention of an associative behavioral change in Hermissenda.
T. Crow and D. Alkon (1978)
Science 201, 1239-1241
   Abstract »    PDF »
Neural correlate of behavioral plasticity in command neurons of Pleurobranchaea.
W. Davis and R Gillette (1978)
Science 199, 801-804
   Abstract »    PDF »
Learning: a model system for physiological studies.
G. Mpitsos, S. Collins, and A. McClellan (1978)
Science 199, 497-506
   PDF »
Conditioning of Pleurobranchaea.
R. Lee (1976)
Science 193, 72-74
   PDF »
Rapid food-aversion learning by a terrestrial mollusk.
A Gelperin (1975)
Science 189, 567-570
   Abstract »    PDF »
Learning: rapid aversive conditioning in the gastropod mollusk Pleurobranchaea.
G. Mpitsos and S. Collins (1975)
Science 188, 954-957
   Abstract »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)