Chapter 19. Neurobiology of learning and memory

TOMSIC D.; MALDONADO H.

Crustacean Nervous Systems and their Control of Behavior. Volume 3 in the Series The Natural History of the Crustacea

Oxford University Press

Lugar: Editors: Charles Derby and Martin Thiel.; Año: 2012;

<1> Abstract This chapter reviews what is known about the neural basis of learning and memory in crustaceans. First, we challenge the general misconception that cognitive abilities for complex learning and memory are exclusive of big-brained animals, and argue that these are essential adaptive features for any animal that actively explores the environment. Then, we briefly describe some fundamental concepts related to the field of learning and memory and introduce the different types of learning found in field and laboratory studies on a wide variety of crustacean species, with emphasis on decapods. Next, we describe the extensive multidisciplinary research program carried out in the crab Neohelice granulata (until recently Chasmagnathus granulatus) to investigate the neurobiology of learning and memory. These investigations, which focus on a context-dependent long-term modification of the escape response to visual danger stimuli, encompass behavioral, ecological, physiological, anatomical, pharmacological, and molecular studies. Results include, for example, the first identification of individual neurons supporting long-term memory in an arthropod, the involvement of molecular components such as the transcription factor NF-kB in the different memory phases (e.g. consolidation, reconsolidation, and extinction), and studies on memory reconsolidation whose results inspired new approaches to study human memory. These and other achievements described here, using a crab as experimental model, highlight the potentiality of crustaceans as model systems for neurobiological studies of learning and memory.