Operant conditioning of gill withdrawal in Aplysia

The Journal of Neuroscience : the Official Journal of the Society for Neuroscience
R D HawkinsE R Kandel

Abstract

A basic question in neuroscience is how different forms of learning are related. To further address that question, we examined whether gill withdrawal in Aplysia, which has already been studied extensively for neuronal mechanisms contributing to habituation, sensitization, and classical conditioning, also undergoes operant conditioning. Animals were run in pairs. During the initial training period, the contingent (experimental) animal received a siphon shock each time its gill relaxed below a criterion level, and the yoked control animal received a shock whenever the experimental animal did, regardless of its own gill position. This was followed by an extinction period when there was no shock, a retraining period when both animals were contingent, and another extinction period. The experimental animals spent more time with their gills contracted above the criterion level than did the control animals during each period, demonstrating operant conditioning. The type of gill behavior modified by learning shifted over time: the experimental animals had a larger increase in the frequency and duration of spontaneous contractions than did the control animals during the first but not the last extinction period and a larger increase in t...Continue Reading

Citations

Sep 23, 2008·Molecular Brain·Yong-Seok LeeBong-Kiun Kaang
Nov 26, 2015·Trends in Neurosciences·Leonie Kirszenblat, Bruno van Swinderen
Apr 1, 2014·Cell·Eric R KandelMark R Mayford
Aug 7, 2017·ELife·Angela M BrunoMark D Humphries
Dec 16, 2020·Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior·Mirari Elcoro, Alexander Backer
Oct 4, 2006·Learning & Memory·Brandon J Aragona, Regina M Carelli

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