Social status and memory in the crab Chasmagnathus. The experience of an agonistic encounter modulates an associative memory

KACZER LAURA; SILVIA PEDETTA; HECTOR MALDONADO

Nyborg, Dinamarca

Congreso; 7th International Congress of Neuroethology; 2004

International Society of Neuroethology

Memory ability depends both on the environment and the singular properties of the individual. Among these properties we can consider the status obtained by an individual after an agonistic encounter. The crab Chasmagnathus constitutes a good model to analyse the relationship between memory and status. Crab agonistic behaviour is conspicuous and in addition, extensive studies have been performed with this species on a fear contextual memory. Present experiments were carried out with two purposes: a) to characterise the dominant and subordinate states and b) to test a possible correlation between memory and social status. Results show that the dominant and subordinate states could be differentiated both from qualitative and quantitative standpoint. The status obtained in the first interaction is kept during a second fight, after a 48-hour between fights interval. Subordinates show better memory than dominants when estimated after but not before fights. Therefore, such difference in memory ability is understood as a consequence of the previous fight. We hypothesize that during the agonist interaction a chemical signal is released that mediates the building up of the dominant or the subordinate status and modulates memory.