Lever-press conditioning in the crab

doi:10.1016/0031-9384(90)90311-Q

Physiology & Behavior

Volume 48, Issue 2, August 1990, Pages 267-272

https://doi.org/10.1016/0031-9384(90)90311-Q Get rights and content

Abstract

An operant chamber has been developed for studying lever-press conditioning in the green crab Carcinus maenas. In one series of experiments, animals were presented with a single bar and were reinforced with food for every bar press. Performance increased over time and high rates of responding were observed after 2 days of training. The response rate was always higher than that for a yoked (noncontingent) control group. When the contingencies were switched, the animals adjusted to the new conditions. Discrimination in the lever-press apparatus was demonstrated in a second experiment in which crabs had to choose between two bars, one (S+) caused food to be dispensed while the other (S−) was inactive. Experimental animals pressed the S+ bar at a significantly higher rate than the S− bar. When the contingencies associated with the lever were reversed, animals learned to switch to the correct bar by the second day. It was not necessary to reinforce every response: animals maintained high rates of responding on a schedule where every other response was reinforced. Animals used different methods of pressing the bar; the most common was extension of the claw, predominantly at the meropodite-carpopodite joint.

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Cited by (28)

Sensory biology and behaviour
2023, Ecophysiology of the European Green Crab (Carcinus Maenas) and Related Species: Mechanisms Behind the Success of a Global Invader
Research on the sensory biology and behaviour of the European green shore crab (herein, green crab), Carcinus maenas, has a long history. For the purposes of this chapter, sensory biology includes functional neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, and behavioural responses to internal and external sensory stimuli with a focus on proximate mechanisms. We begin this review with an overview of the structure and function of the central and peripheral nervous system including the external sensory appendages within the context of brachyuran crustaceans. This is then followed by a discussion of each of the major sensory modalities that have been the target of at least some active research on C. maenas and related species. For example, a relatively large volume of research has been directed towards increasing our understanding of chemical signalling and chemoreception in C. maenas. Other sensory systems, such as vision and photoreception, have not received as much recent attention in C. maenas and are therefore discussed in the context of other decapod crustaceans. We conclude the chapter with several key examples describing the role of sensory biology on specific behaviours including circatidal and circadian rhythmicity, learning and memory, and the effect of anthropogenic and environmental stressors on sensory systems. Several suggestions and directions are also provided as potential areas for future studies.
Food-rewarded conditioning and neurophysiological analysis of cheliped gripping behavior in crayfish
2017, Physiology and Behavior
Citation Excerpt :
Our results thus clearly showed that the crayfish P. clarkii has an ability of operant learning on cheliped manipulative behavior in addition to a classical learning ability reported in a previous study [23]. Moreover, with the previous studies in green crab [24] and American lobster [25,26], the results suggest a general operant-learning ability of manipulative behavior in the decapod crustaceans. It has been well known in primates that when an animal carries out a manipulative task, neural activities characteristic of voluntary motor control are observed in the central nervous system such as anticipation of food reward information [12–14] and motor preparation [15–19].
Animals act on their environment to intentionally manipulate it with a defined purpose. This behavior generally needs a special organ suited for the purpose and a highly complex neural mechanism to perform voluntary motor control. Crustaceans with a pair of chelipeds show various manipulative behavior for dietary, exploratory, and reproductive purposes, but the neuronal mechanism underlying the cheliped manipulative behavior has not been clarified yet. In the present study, we trained crayfish Procambarus clarkii to perform a cheliped manipulative task by a newly developed operant paradigm in which animals gripped a specific object for food reward when a visual cue was presented. Animals were then tethered in an operant chamber during the task to enable reliable physiological recordings from the central nervous system. Neural activities descending from the brain were recorded extracellularly from the connective nerves between the brain and the subesophageal ganglion in the trained animals. We found those units showing spike activities that were significantly correlated with cheliped muscle activities, but not with strict timing of visual cue presentation. Although we could not test if those descending activities were necessary or sufficient for initiating the cheliped action by their selective stimulation, the present findings suggest that neural activities for controlling operant gripping behavior are formulated in the brain rather than in the subesophageal ganglion where cheliped motoneurons are present and visual information is transmitted through the brain.
A Multidisciplinary Approach to Learning and Memory in the Crab Neohelice (Chasmagnathus) granulata
2013, Handbook of Behavioral Neuroscience
Due to their unique advantages for certain experimental approaches, crustaceans have long been used in neurobiological research. In this chapter, we describe a number of important contributions to the field of learning and memory yielded by investigations carried out over more than 20 years in the crab Neohelice (until recently Chasmagnathus) granulata. Several distinct learning paradigms have been implemented in this animal, with the most compelling studies being performed in the so called context-signal memory (CSM). Acquired through a single training session, CSM entails a long-lasting modification (>5 days) of the escape response to a visual danger stimulus. CSM is determined by an association between two independent memories—a memory of the stimulus (signal memory) and a memory of the training environment (context memory). Investigations of CSM have been performed using behavioral, ecological, electrophysiological, anatomical, pharmacological, and molecular approaches. Fundamental findings and their significance are discussed.
Discrimination learning with light stimuli in restrained American lobster
2012, Behavioural Brain Research
Citation Excerpt :
Their brains, called “microbrains” [8] or “minibrains” [9], are characterized by not only their size but also the cytoarchitecture and organization of neurons that are small in their population and large in their individual cell size. Intensive behavioral and molecular biological studies have been done on the learning ability in many invertebrates including insects [6,7,10–32] and crustaceans [15,33–38]. Electrophysiological techniques have been applied to the study of learning mechanisms in some invertebrates [39–47].
Operant discrimination learning has been extensively utilized in the study on the perceptual ability of animals and their higher order brain functions. We tested in this study whether American lobster Homarus americanus, which was previously found to possess ability of operant learning with claw gripping, could be trained to discriminate light stimuli of different intensities. For the current purpose, we newly developed a PC-controlled operant chamber that allowed the animal under a body-fixed condition to perform operant reward learning with claw gripping. Lobsters were first reinforced when they gripped the sensor bar upon presentation of a light cue. Then they were trained to grip the bar only when the light stimulus of a specific intensity was presented to obtain food reward while the stimuli of three different intensities including the reinforced one were presented in a random order. Finally, they were re-trained to grip the bar only when the light stimulus of another intensity that was not rewarded in the preceding training to obtain food while other intensities including the one that was rewarded previously were not rewarded any more. In these training procedures, the operant behavior occurred more frequently in response to the rewarded cue than to the non-rewarded one. The action latency for the reinforced stimuli showed a significant decrease in the course of training. These data demonstrate that lobsters can be trained with the light cues of different intensity as discriminative stimuli under a restrained condition that would allow application of electrophysiological techniques to the behaving subjects.
A behavioral analysis of force-controlled operant tasks in American lobster
2010, Physiology and Behavior
Citation Excerpt :
The current work expanded the range of invertebrate species that are capable of learning manipulative tasks in operant chambers by adding lobster H.americanus to the previous list of cockroach [40], bee [41], Aplysia[42], crab [14] and snail [43]. It is noted here that green crab Carcinus meanas, a decapod crustacean like lobsters, has been reported to successfully perform acquisition (continuous reinforcement), extinction and reacquisition procedures for pressing a lever by extending the claw or whole body [14]. This result is consistent with our data in lobster, suggesting that decapoda crustaceans have a general ability of manipulative operant conditioning.
Operant conditioning is a common tool for studying cognitive aspects of brain functions. As the first step toward understanding those functions in simple invertebrate microbrains, we tested whether operant conditioning could be applied to train American lobster Homarus americanus that has been extensively adopted as an animal model for neurophysiological analyses of nervous system functions and behavioral control. The animal was trained by food rewarding for gripping of a sensor bar as the operant behavior. Lobsters were first reinforced when they acted on the bar with a stronger grip than a pre-set value. After this reinforcement, the animal learnt to grip the bar for food pellets. The yoked control experiment in which the animal received action-independent reinforcement excluded the possibility of pseudoconditioning that the food simply drove the animal to frequent gripping of the sensor bar. The association of the bar-grip with food was extinguished by rewarding nothing to the operant behavior, and was restored by repeating the reinforcement process as before. In addition, lobsters successfully carried out differential reinforcement regarding the gripping force: their gripping force changed depending on the increased force threshold for food reward. These data demonstrate that lobsters can be trained by operant conditioning paradigms involving acquisition and extinction procedures with the precise claw gripping even under the force control.
Using pupae as appetitive reinforcement to study visual and tactile associative learning in the Ponerine ant Diacamma indicum
2023, Scientific Reports

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Physiology & Behavior

Abstract

References (31)

Operant punishment in the green crab, Carcinus maenas

Behav. Neural Biol.

Organization of neuromuscular systems

Learning of leg position by the ghost crab Ocypode ceratophthalma

Behav. Biol.

Localization of brain function and neurochemical correlates of learning in the mud crab, Eurypanopeus depressus (Decapod)

Comp. Biochem. Physiol.

A paradigm for position learning in the crayfish claw

Brain Res.

Signalled avoidance in the eye withdrawal reflex of the green crab

J. Exp. Anal. Behav.

Self-stimulation in snails

Neurosci. Res. Comm.

Systematic effect of random error in the yoked control design

Psychol. Bull.

Does the headless roach learn to avoid?

Physiol. Psychol.

Operant conditioning of head waving in Aplysia

Operant conditioning of head waving in Aplysia. Cellular analysis of possible reinforcement pathways

J. Neurosci.

Operant conditioning of head waving in Aplysia. I. Identified muscles involved in the operant response

J. Neurosci.

Operant conditioning of head waving in Aplysia. II. Contingent modification of electromyographic activity in identified muscles

J. Neurosci.

Cooling as reinforcing stimulus in Aplysia

Am. Zool.

Neural correlates of leg learning in the shore crab, Carcinus maenas

Mar. Behav. Physiol.

Cited by (28)

Sensory biology and behaviour

Food-rewarded conditioning and neurophysiological analysis of cheliped gripping behavior in crayfish

A Multidisciplinary Approach to Learning and Memory in the Crab Neohelice (Chasmagnathus) granulata

Discrimination learning with light stimuli in restrained American lobster

A behavioral analysis of force-controlled operant tasks in American lobster

Using pupae as appetitive reinforcement to study visual and tactile associative learning in the Ponerine ant Diacamma indicum