Biology subjects

Arican, C.

Publications and source records attributed to Arican, C..

2 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2022

The mushroom body output encodes behavioral decision during sensory-motor transformation

Animal behavioral decisions are dynamically formed by evaluating momentary sensory evidence on the background of individual experience and the acute motivational state. In insects, the mushroom body (MB) has been implicated in forming associative memories and in assessing the appetitive or aversive valence of sensory stimuli to bias approach versus avoidance behavior. To study the MB involvement in innate feeding behavior we performed extracellular single-unit recordings from MB output neurons (MBONs) while simultaneously monitoring a defined feeding behavior in response to timed odor stimulation in naive cockroaches. All animals expressed the feeding behavior almost exclusively in response to food odors. Likewise, MBON responses were invariably and strongly tuned to the same odors. Importantly, MBON responses were restricted to behaviorally responded trials, which allowed the accurate prediction of the occurrence versus non-occurrence of the feeding behavior in individual trials from the neuronal population activity. During responded trials the neuronal activity generally preceded the onset of the feeding behavior, indicating a causal relation. Our results contest the predominant view that MBONs encode stimulus valence. Rather, we conclude that the MB output dynamically encodes the behavioral decision to inform downstream motor networks.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2019

Cockroaches show individuality in learning and memory during classical and operant conditioning

Animal personality and individuality are intensively researched in vertebrates and both concepts are increasingly applied to behavioral science in insects. However, only few studies have looked into individuality with respect to performance in learning and memory tasks. In vertebrates individual learning capabilities vary considerably with respect to learning speed and learning rate. Likewise, honeybees express individual learning abilities in a wide range of classical conditioning protocols. Here, we study individuality in the learning and memory performance of cockroaches, both in classical and operant conditioning tasks. We implemented a novel classical (olfactory) conditioning paradigm where the conditioned response is established in the maxilla-labia response (MLR). Operant spatial learning was investigated in a forced two-choice task using a T-maze. Our results confirm individual learning abilities in classical conditioning of cockroaches that was reported for honeybees and vertebrates but contrast long-standing reports on stochastic learning behavior in fruit flies. In our experiments, most learners expressed a correct behavior after only a single learning trial showing a consistent high performance during training and test. We can further show that individual learning differences in insects are not limited to classical conditioning but equally appear in operant conditioning of the cockroach.

animal behavior and cognition↗