Journal of Neuroscience, Vol 9, 3097-3106, Copyright © 1989 by Society for Neuroscience
Operant conditioning of head-waving in Aplysia. I. Identified muscles involved in the operant response
DG Cook and TJ Carew
Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520.
A basic goal in the neurosciences is to understand the cellular mechanisms
underlying associative learning. The 2 major forms of associative learning
are classical conditioning and operant conditioning. In recent years
considerable progress has been made towards a cellular analysis of
classical conditioning in a number of different preparations. In contrast,
the cellular mechanisms underlying operant conditioning are poorly
understood. Since the marine mollusc Aplysia has proved to be a powerful
preparation for studying cellular and molecular mechanisms of a variety of
forms of learning, including classical conditioning, we asked whether
Aplysia might also be capable of exhibiting operant conditioning. In
previous experiments we found that a naturally occurring behavior, the
head-waving response of Aplysia, could be operantly conditioned (Cook and
Carew, 1986). In the present paper we have carried out a quantitative
analysis of the horizontal and vertical components of the head-waving
response at the level of individual muscle groups. We have identified a
discrete, bilateral band of neck muscles, the lateral columellar muscles
(LCMs), whose electromyographic (EMG) activity is significantly correlated
with the horizontal component of head-waving, the component modified by
operant conditioning. Since head-waving is a complex behavioral response
involving a variety of different muscle groups, using a restricted system
such as the LCMs as an analog of the head-waving response will greatly
facilitate a cellular analysis of operant conditioning in Aplysia.
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