Rapid taste-aversion learning by an isolated molluscan central nervous system.

Abstract

The isolated lips and nervous system of the terrestrial slug Limax maximus will produce some of the feeding behavior of the intact animal; i.e., they generate the rhythmic neural activity characteristic of ingestion in response to food extracts applied to the lips. This preparation will respond to a variety of food extracts that elicit feeding in the whole animal, providing the opportunity for aversive conditioning experiments involving taste discrimination. Pairing lip chemostimulation by attractive food extracts with lip chemostimulation by using bitter plant secondary substances can cause the isolated brain to selectively suppress its neural response to one food extract while remaining responsive to another. Such isolated brains can learn after 1 or 2 trials and retain the learning for more than 8 h.