Operant conditioning in invertebrates

Learning to anticipate future events on the basis of past experience with the consequences of one's own behavior (operant conditioning) is a simple form of learning that humans share with most other animals, including invertebrates. Three model organisms have recently made significant contributions towards a mechanistic model of operant conditioning, because of their special technical advantages. Research using the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster implicated the ignorant gene in operant conditioning in the heat-box, research on the sea slug Aplysia californica contributed a cellular mechanism of behavior selection at a convergence point of operant behavior and reward, and research on the pond snail Lymnaea stagnalis elucidated the role of a behavior-initiating neuron in operant conditioning. These insights demonstrate the usefulness of a variety of invertebrate model systems to complement and stimulate research in vertebrates.