A new study, led by Makoto Mizunami and colleagues at Tohoku University in Japan, demonstrates classical conditioning of salivation in cockroaches, for the first time in species other than dogs and humans, thereby providing the first evidence of sophisticated neural control of autonomic function in insects. Its underlying neural mechanisms remain elusive because of the complexity of the mammalian brain. The results provide a useful model system for studying cellular basis of conditioning of salivation in the simpler nervous system of insects.
The paper, “Pavlov's Cockroach: Classical Conditioning of Salivation in an Insect,” appears in the June 13th issue of PLoS ONE, the online, open-access journal from the Public Library of Science.
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Citation: Watanabe H, Mizunami M (2007) Pavlov’s Cockroach: Classical Conditioning of Salivation in an Insect. PLoS ONE 2(6): e529. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0000529
PLEASE ADD THE LINK TO THE PUBLISHED ARTICLE IN ONLINE VERSIONS OF YOUR REPORT: http://www.plosone.org/doi/pone.0000529
PRESS ONLY PREVIEW: http://www.plos.org/press/pone-02-06-mizunami.pdf
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