scholarly journals Multiple Sites of Associative Odor Learning as Revealed by Local Brain Microinjections of Octopamine in Honeybees

1998 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 146-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Hammer ◽  
Randolf Menzel
Keyword(s):  
Memory Consolidation ◽  
Mushroom Body ◽  
Specific Effect ◽  
Insect Brain ◽  
Conditioning Procedure ◽  
Odor Learning ◽  
Specific Enhancement ◽  
Appetitive Response ◽  
Local Brain ◽  
Classical Conditioning Procedure

In a classical conditioning procedure, honeybees associate an odor with sucrose resulting in the capacity of the odor to evoke an appetitive response, the extension of the proboscis (PER). Here, we study the effects of pairing an odor with injections of octopamine (OA) as a substitute for sucrose into three putative brain sites of odor/sucrose convergence. OA injected into the mushroom body (MB) calyces or the antennal lobe but not the lateral protocerebral lobe produces a lasting, pairing-specific enhancement of PER. During pairings, OA injected into the MB calyces results in an additional pairing-specific effect, because it does not lead to an acquisition but a consolidation after conditioning. These results suggest that the neuromodulator OA has the capacity of inducing associative learning in an insect brain. Moreover, they suggest the antennal lobes and the calyces as at least partially independent sites of associating odors that may contribute differently to learning and memory consolidation.

scholarly journals Sleep and conditioning of the siphon withdrawal reflex in Aplysia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathrin I. Thiede ◽  
Jan Born ◽  
Albrecht P. A. Vorster
Keyword(s):  
Conditioned Stimulus ◽  
Memory Consolidation ◽  
Tactile Stimulus ◽  
Aplysia Californica ◽  
Extinction Training ◽  
Reflex Response ◽  
Conditioning Procedure ◽  
Withdrawal Reflex ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Classical Conditioning Procedure

Sleep is essential for memory consolidation after learning as shown in mammals and invertebrates such as bees and flies. Aplysia californica displays sleep and sleep in this mollusk was also found to support memory for an operant conditioning task. Here, we investigated whether sleep in Aplysia is also required for memory consolidation in a simpler type of learning, i.e., the conditioning of the siphon withdrawal reflex. Two groups of animals (Wake, Sleep, each n=11) were conditioned on the siphon withdrawal reflex with the training following a classical conditioning procedure where an electrical tail shock served as unconditioned stimulus (US) and a tactile stimulus to the siphon as conditioned stimulus (CS). Responses to the CS were tested before (Pre-test), 24 and 48 hours after training. While Wake animals remained awake for 6 hours after training, Sleep animals had undisturbed sleep. The 24h-test in both groups was combined with extinction training, i.e., the extended presentation of the CS alone over two blocks. At the 24h-test, siphon withdrawal durations to the CS were distinctly enhanced in both Sleep and Wake groups with no significant difference between groups, consistent with the view that consolidation of a simple conditioned reflex response does not require post-training sleep. Surprisingly, extinction training did not reverse the enhancement of responses to the CS. On the contrary, at the 48h-test, withdrawal durations to the CS were even further enhanced across both groups. This suggests that processes of sensitization, an even simpler non-associative type of learning, contributed to the withdrawal responses. Our study provides evidence for the hypothesis that sleep preferentially benefits consolidation of more complex learning paradigms than conditioning of simple reflexes.

A Classical Conditioning Procedure for the Hearing Assessment of Multiply Handicapped Persons

1989 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giulio E. Lancioni ◽  
Frans Coninx ◽  
Paul M. Smeets
Keyword(s):  
Classical Conditioning ◽  
Unconditioned Stimulus ◽  
Children And Adolescents ◽  
Operant Conditioning ◽  
Conditioning Procedure ◽  
Handicapped Children ◽  
Visual Reinforcement ◽  
Classical Procedure ◽  
Hearing Assessment ◽  
Classical Conditioning Procedure

The present study evaluated the viability of a classical conditioning procedure with an air puff as unconditioned stimulus for the hearing assessment of multiply handicapped children and adolescents. All subjects were also exposed to operant conditioning, which consisted of a modified visual reinforcement audiometry (VRA) procedure or involved edible reinforcement contingent on a reaching response (for blind subjects). The findings indicate that the classical conditioning procedure was successful with 21 of the 23 subjects, whereas operant conditioning succeeded with 15 of the subjects. Thresholds obtained with classical conditioning were mostly equal to or within 10 dB of those obtained with operant conditioning and also matched previously available hearing estimates. These findings seem to suggest that the classical procedure can be a useful behavioral alternative for audiological assessment.

scholarly journals Multimodal integration and stimulus categorization in putative mushroom body output neurons of the honeybee

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 171785 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin F. Strube-Bloss ◽  
Wolfgang Rössler
Keyword(s):  
Visual Information ◽  
Mushroom Body ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Sensory Modality ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Insect Brain ◽  
Pollinating Insects ◽  
Output Neurons ◽  
Electrophysiological Characterization ◽  
Nonlinear Integration

Flowers attract pollinating insects like honeybees by sophisticated compositions of olfactory and visual cues. Using honeybees as a model to study olfactory–visual integration at the neuronal level, we focused on mushroom body (MB) output neurons (MBON). From a neuronal circuit perspective, MBONs represent a prominent level of sensory-modality convergence in the insect brain. We established an experimental design allowing electrophysiological characterization of olfactory, visual, as well as olfactory–visual induced activation of individual MBONs. Despite the obvious convergence of olfactory and visual pathways in the MB, we found numerous unimodal MBONs. However, a substantial proportion of MBONs (32%) responded to both modalities and thus integrated olfactory–visual information across MB input layers. In these neurons, representation of the olfactory–visual compound was significantly increased compared with that of single components, suggesting an additive, but nonlinear integration. Population analyses of olfactory–visual MBONs revealed three categories: (i) olfactory, (ii) visual and (iii) olfactory–visual compound stimuli. Interestingly, no significant differentiation was apparent regarding different stimulus qualities within these categories. We conclude that encoding of stimulus quality within a modality is largely completed at the level of MB input, and information at the MB output is integrated across modalities to efficiently categorize sensory information for downstream behavioural decision processing.

Current- and Voltage-Clamp Recordings and Computer Simulations of Kenyon Cells in the Honeybee

2004 ◽  
Vol 92 (4) ◽  
pp. 2589-2603 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel G. Wüstenberg ◽  
Milena Boytcheva ◽  
Bernd Grünewald ◽  
John H. Byrne ◽  
Randolf Menzel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Voltage Clamp ◽  
Mushroom Body ◽  
Outward Current ◽  
Delayed Rectifier ◽  
Transient Outward Current ◽  
Insect Brain ◽  
Type Model ◽  
Kenyon Cells ◽  
Fast Transient

The mushroom body of the insect brain is an important locus for olfactory information processing and associative learning. The present study investigated the biophysical properties of Kenyon cells, which form the mushroom body. Current- and voltage-clamp analyses were performed on cultured Kenyon cells from honeybees. Current-clamp analyses indicated that Kenyon cells did not spike spontaneously in vitro. However, spikes could be elicited by current injection in approximately 85% of the cells. Of the cells that produced spikes during a 1-s depolarizing current pulse, approximately 60% exhibited repetitive spiking, whereas the remaining approximately 40% fired a single spike. Cells that spiked repetitively showed little frequency adaptation. However, spikes consistently became broader and smaller during repetitive activity. Voltage-clamp analyses characterized a fast transient Na+ current ( INa), a delayed rectifier K+ current ( IK,V), and a fast transient K+ current ( IK,A). Using the neurosimulator SNNAP, a Hodgkin–Huxley-type model was developed and used to investigate the roles of the different currents during spiking. The model led to the prediction of a slow transient outward current ( IK,ST) that was subsequently identified by reevaluating the voltage-clamp data. Simulations indicated that the primary currents that underlie spiking are INa and IK,V, whereas IK,A and IK,ST primarily determined the responsiveness of the model to stimuli such as constant or oscillatory injections of current.

scholarly journals Circuit reorganization in the Drosophila mushroom body calyx accompanies memory consolidation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lothar Baltruschat ◽  
Philipp Ranft ◽  
Luigi Prisco ◽  
J. Scott Lauritzen ◽  
André Fiala ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Conditioned Stimulus ◽  
Memory Consolidation ◽  
Mushroom Body ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
De Novo ◽  
Projection Neurons ◽  
Structural Modifications ◽  
Behavioural Experiments ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Mushroom Body Calyx

SummaryThe capacity of utilizing past experience to guide future action is a fundamental and conserved function of the nervous system. Associative memory formation initiated by the coincident detection of a conditioned stimulus (CS, e.g. odour) and an unconditioned stimulus (US, e.g. sugar reward) can lead to a short-lived memory trace (STM) within distinct circuits [1-5]. Memories can be consolidated into long-term memories (LTM) through processes that are not fully understood, but depend on de-novo protein synthesis [6, 7], require structural modifications within the involved neuronal circuits and might lead to the recruitment of additional ones [8-17]. Compared to modulation of existing connections, the reorganization of circuits affords the unique possibility of sampling for potential new partners [18-20]. Nonetheless, only few examples of rewiring associated with learning have been established thus far [14, 21-24]. Here, we report that memory consolidation is associated with the structural and functional reorganization of an identified circuit in the adult fly brain. The formation and retrieval of olfactory associative memories in Drosophila requires the mushroom body (MB) [25]. We identified the individual synapses of olfactory projection neurons (PNs) that deliver a conditioned odour to the MB and reconstructed the complexity of the microcircuit they form. Combining behavioural experiments with high-resolution microscopy and functional imaging, we demonstrated that the consolidation of appetitive olfactory memories closely correlates with an increase in the number of synaptic complexes formed by the PNs that deliver the conditioned stimulus and their postsynaptic partners. These structural changes result in additional functional synaptic connections.

scholarly journals Abstract concept learning in a simple neural network inspired by the insect brain

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex J. Cope ◽  
Eleni Vasilaki ◽  
Dorian Minors ◽  
Chelsea Sabo ◽  
James A.R. Marshall ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Executive Control ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Mushroom Body ◽  
Insect Brain ◽  
Abstract Concept ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Learning Tasks ◽  
Learning Rates ◽  
Simple Neural Network

AbstractThe capacity to learn abstract concepts such as ‘sameness’ and ‘difference’ is considered a higher-order cognitive function, typically thought to be dependent on top-down neocortical processing. It is therefore surprising that honey bees apparantly have this capacity. Here we report a model of the structures of the honey bee brain that can learn same-ness and difference, as well as a range of complex and simple associative learning tasks. Our model is constrained by the known connections and properties of the mushroom body, including the protocerebral tract, and provides a good fit to the learning rates and performances of real bees in all tasks, including learning sameness and difference. The model proposes a novel mechanism for learning the abstract concepts of ‘sameness’ and ‘difference’ that is compatible with the insect brain, and is not dependent on top-down or executive control processing.

scholarly journals Neural Correlates of Odor Learning in the Presynaptic Microglomerular Circuitry in the Honeybee Mushroom Body Calyx

eNeuro ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. ENEURO.0128-18.2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joachim Haenicke ◽  
Nobuhiro Yamagata ◽  
Hanna Zwaka ◽  
Martin Nawrot ◽  
Randolf Menzel
Keyword(s):  
Mushroom Body ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Odor Learning ◽  
Mushroom Body Calyx

Mushroom Body of the Honeybee

2017 ◽  
pp. 353-360
Author(s):  
Jürgen Rybak ◽  
Randolf Menzel
Keyword(s):  
Mushroom Body ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Insect Species ◽  
Insect Brain ◽  
Projection Neurons ◽  
Kenyon Cells ◽  
Output Neurons ◽  
The Brain

The mushroom body (MB) in the insect brain is composed of a large number of densely packed neurons called Kenyon cells (KCs) (Drosophila, 2200; honeybee, 170,000). In most insect species, the MB consists of two caplike dorsal structures, the calyces, which contain the dendrites of KCs, and two to four lobes formed by collaterals of branching KC axons. Although the MB receives input and provides output throughout its whole structure, the neuropil part of the calyx receives predominantly multimodal input from sensory projection neurons (PNs) of second or a higher order, and the lobes send output neurons to many other parts of the brain, including recurrent neurons to the MB calyx. Widely branching, supposedly modulatory neurons (serotonergic, octopaminergic) innervate the MB at all levels (calyx, peduncle, and lobes), including the somata of KCs in the calyx (dopamine).

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document