Classical Conditioning of Feeding in Aplysia: I. Behavioral Analysis
Hilde A. Lechner, Douglas A. Baxter, and John H. Byrne
Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, W. M. Keck Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, The
University of Texas, Houston Medical School, Houston, Texas 77030
A training protocol was developed to classically condition feeding behavior in Aplysia californica using tactile stimulation of the lips as the conditional stimulus (CS) and food as the unconditional stimulus (US). Paired training induced a greater increase in the number of bites to the CS than unpaired training or
US-only stimulation. Memory for classical conditioning was
retained …show more content…
Tactile stimulation of the lips with a paintbrush served as the conditional stimulus (CS) and food as the unconditional stimulus
(US). B, A delayed pairing procedure was used in which the C S onset preceded the US onset by 3 sec. C S and
US overlapped for 5 sec, after which the C S was terminated. The US was presented until the animal ingested it, but no longer than 60 sec. Unpaired training consisted of C S and US presentations at an ISI of 120 sec. An additional control group received US presentations only. The I TI was 4 min in all experiments. C, Animals were tested for feeding behavior (biting) by offering them a piece of seaweed (US) before the experiment. Immediately before training, animals received four
C S presentations (pretest). The number of bites during this stimulation period was counted. Subsequently, animals received 10 trials of paired, unpaired, or US-only training. After training, the number of bites elicited by four C Ss (test) was determined and compared to the score obtained during the pretest. Finally, animals were tested once again for feeding behavior by offering a piece of food …show more content…
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