A Comparison Between Effectiveness of Operant and Pavlovian Conditioning in Planarian Flatworms

Overview

One of the most well recognized methods of conditioning in planarian flatworms is light-shock therapy, a form of Pavlovian conditioning where the worm is trained to exhibit a negative response to a light stimulus after it is repeatedly combined with an electric shock. Planarians are also responsive to operant conditioning conducted within a Y-Maze apparatus. Where, planarian flatworms are trained to travel in a certain direction of the maze; typically a shock is used as a negative reinforcement if the worm gravitates towards the wrong direction. In my investigation I was looking to quantify the persistence of a behavior conditioned within a y-maze through the regeneration process. By conditioning worms to travel against their directional bias in a y-maze for two consecutive days, cutting them transversely, and allowing them to regenerate for two weeks, the worm may then automatically travel to the conditioned side of the maze once they have fully completed regeneration. Since the planarian is capable of regenerating a new brain, memories previously learned in a worm are possibly stored in neoblasts in addition to the brain. Once this investigation is conducted, its results may also be compared to results found using light shock therapy, thus observing the difference in retention between operant conditioning and light shock conditioning in planarian. Retention among either form of conditioning through body regeneration could also support theories that unspecialized neoblast cells that planarian possess are the source of memory retention as they are the one structure consistent through the regeneration process. I hypothesized that the classical conditioning will have longer lasting and more effective results since it requires less complex brain function and association between stimuli to be effective. Trends in lack of retention suggest that, while the subjects retained the light-shock conditioning more consistently than in the y-maze, likely both forms of conditioning were not implemented with enough frequency to obtain a strong final response.

Competition history

• AJAS 2018 Category not listed

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