Brembs, Wolf and Heisenberg (1997) Is operant behavior facilitating classical conditioning of Drosophila at the flight simulator?

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Is operant behavior facilitating classical conditioning of Drosophila at the flight simulator?

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CONTRIBUTORS:

	Author:	Brembs, Björn (Freie Universität Berlin)
	Author:	Wolf, Reinhard
	Author:	Heisenberg, Martin

CONFERENCE NAME:

Göttingen Neuroscience Meeting

CONF. LOCATION:

Göttingen

CONFERENCE YEAR:

1997

PUB TYPE:

Conference Presentation

SUBJECT(S):

Neurobiology, Neuroscience, operant conditioning

DISCIPLINE:

Biology

HTTP:

http://bjoern.brembs.net/download.php?view.12

LANGUAGE:

English

PUB ID:

103-425-980 (Last edited on 2006/04/13 07:28:45 GMT-6)

SPONSOR(S):

ABSTRACT:
While in recent years classical conditioning has been established as an information transfer from the unconditioned to the conditioned stimulus, the processes underlying operant conditioning are still poorly understood. Modification of motor-programs in response to reinforcement accounts for some but possibly not all cases.
The study of pattern learning in the Drosophila flight simulator seems well suited to compare the two types of learning: The same behavioral test - the choice between two patterns - can be used to assess learning success in differently trained animals. During training, the sequence of conditioned and unconditioned stimuli can either be controlled by the fly itself (closed-loop, operant training) or by the experimenter, the fly having no possibility to interfere (open-loop, classical conditioning). In the flight simulator, the experimenter has exquisite control over the various contingencies that one might establish among behavioral output, visual input and the reinforcer.
The different processes assumed to underlie the different training procedures might lead to different behavioral strategies to avoid the pattern orientation associated with heat. For instance, if the classically trained fly learned that one of the pattern orientations was associated with heat, it might use the same behavioral repertoire to avoid this flight direction as it employs to express a spontaneous pattern preference.
Conversely, during operant training flies may acquire a more effective (or at least different) way to avoid the heat, selecting one of several behavioral strategies. In this case, the motor-output should be different from that of the naive and the classically conditioned flies.
The flight simulator provides the means for a detailed comparison of the relationship between behavioral output, visual input and the reinforcer, necessary to find behavioral optimizations.

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