Year: 2014
Type: article
Abstract: Neural mechanisms for learning are largely conserved across taxa, and with relatively simple, modularly organized nervous systems, crustaceans have proven a suitable model for exploring its cellular basis.Associative learning, in particular, is necessary for animals to gain predictability about their surroundings and to display stimulus-appropriate behavior.Crayfish have previously demonstrated the capability to learn through classical conditioning and they possess many traits desirable in a research model, such as the ability to engage in highly structured behaviors using a number of different, specialized appendages.The present study extends these findings to instrumental learning.We have successfully designed and implemented a spatially contingent, operant paradigm in which crayfish learned to avoid a particular substrate that is paired with electro shock punishment.Animals quickly responded with altered substrate preference and a marked change in locomotor activity.
Author: Rohan V. Bhimani
Institution: Bowling Green State University
Language: English
Subfield: Ecology
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2611613881