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Olfactory learning and behaviour are ‘insulated’ against visual processing in larval Drosophila

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Abstract

We investigate the organization of behaviour across sensory modalities, using larval Drosophila melanogaster. We ask whether olfactory learning and behaviour are affected by visual processing. We find that: (1) Visual choice does not affect concomitant odour choice. (2) Visual context does not influence odour learning, nor do changes of visual context between training and test affect retrieval of odour memory. (3) Larvae cannot solve a biconditional discrimination task, despite generally permissive conditions. In this task, larvae are required to establish conditional associations: in light, one odour is rewarded and the other one is not, whereas in dark the opposite contingency is established. After such training, choice between the two odours is equal under light and dark testing conditions, suggesting that larvae do not establish odour memories specifically for one visual context only. Together, these data suggest that, in larval Drosophila, olfactory learning and behaviour are ‘insulated’ against visual processing.

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Abbreviations

AM:

Amylacetate

FRU:

Fructose

LI:

Learning index

OCT:

1-octanol

PREF:

Preference

QUI:

Quinine hemisulfate

+:

Positive reinforcement

−:

Negative reinforcement

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Acknowledgments

This work was made possible by a Young Investigator Grant from the German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development (to B.G.; GIF 1326-202.8/2003). Current support to A.Y. comes from a PhD fellowship of the Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds.Thanks to Yi-chun Chen, Julia Ehmer, Katharina Gerber, Angelika Kronhard and Timo Saumweber for enthusiastic and reliable help with the experiments; to Jens Rister for discussion of pattern-colour processing; to the members of the department and foremost Martin Heisenberg for continuous encouragement and discussion. Our experiments comply with applicable law.

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Author notes

  1. Bertram Gerber

    Present address: Department of Systems and Computational Neurobiology, Max Planck Institut für Neurobiologie, Am Klopferspitz 18a, 821 52, Martinsried, Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biozentrum Am Hubland, Lehrstuhl für Genetik und Neurobiologie, Universität Würzburg, 970 74, Würzburg, Germany

    Ayse Yarali, Thomas Hendel & Bertram Gerber

  2. Department of Systems and Computational Neurobiology, Max Planck Institut für Neurobiologie, Am Klopferspitz 18a, 821 52, Martinsried, Germany

    Thomas Hendel

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  1. Ayse Yarali
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  2. Thomas Hendel
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  3. Bertram Gerber
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Correspondence to Bertram Gerber.

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Yarali, A., Hendel, T. & Gerber, B. Olfactory learning and behaviour are ‘insulated’ against visual processing in larval Drosophila . J Comp Physiol A 192, 1133–1145 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-006-0140-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-006-0140-7

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