Conditioned suppression of proboscis extension in Drosophila melanogaster..

Abstract

Food-deprived Drosophila melanogaster extend their proboscises following sucrose stimulation of the front tarsi (the proboscis extension reflex). Medioni and Vaysse (1975) reported that the inhibition of this response can be conditioned over trials if such proboscis extensions are punished by applying an aversive stimulus to the foreleg tarsi. In this study, Medioni and Vaysse's basic observations of conditioning were replicated, with a different strain of flies and a modified conditioning apparatus.

Cognition in Invertebrates

“…While there is evidence in vertebrates of how this reduction in the error signal may be implemented biologically, such evidence is still lacking in invertebrates. Conditioning using the PER has been so successful that it has been established in other insects such as moths and flies (Medioni and Vaysse, 1975;DeJianne et al, 1985;Holliday and Hirsch, 1986;Brigui et al, 1990;Fan et al, 1997;Fresquet, 1999;Hartlieb et al, 1999;Daly and Smith, 2000;Fan and Hansson, 2001;Skiri et al, 2005) and for use with mechanosensory stimuli (Giurfa and Malun, 2004).…”

Humidity as an aversive stimulus in learning inDrosophila melanogaster

“…In PER studies, fasting flies walk on revolving drums and are subjected to a strip soaked with a sucrose solution followed by another strip soaked with a quinine solution. Flies walk on a very wet drum in order to remove quinine and sucrose from tarsal chemoreceptors (see, e.g., Brigui et al, 1990) or cross a wet strip every minute (DeJianne, McGuire, & Pruzan-Hotchkiss, 1985). The present results suggest that walking on wet ground could be an aversive stimulus.…”

Learning and memory in Rhodnius prolixus: habituation and aversive operant conditioning of the proboscis extension response

“…(Deisig et al, 2002;Giurfa and Malun, 2004;Châline et al, 2005;Giurfa and Sandoz, 2012). In dipterans, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster also constitutes an excellent model to unravel the mechanisms of learning and memory by means of aversive conditioning of PER (Vaysse and Médioni, 1976;DeJianne et al, 1985) or aversive olfactory conditioning (Holliday and Hirsch, 1986;Fresquet, 1999;Chabaud et al, 2006;Busto et al, 2010). In haematophagous insects, blood feeding consists of accessing fluid that is hidden under the host skin.…”