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First published online May 29, 2009
Journal of Experimental Biology 212, 1904-1911 (2009)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2009
doi: 10.1242/jeb.030080
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Differential conditioning and long-term olfactory memory in individual Camponotus fellah ants

Roxana Josens1, Claire Eschbach2,3,* and Martin Giurfa2,3,{dagger}

1 Grupo de Estudio de Insectos Sociales, Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Universitaria, Pab. II, 1428 Buenos Aires, Argentina
2 Université de Toulouse, UPS, Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale, 118 route de Narbonne, F-31062 Toulouse Cedex 9, France
3 CNRS, Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale, 118 route de Narbonne, F-31062 Toulouse Cedex 9, France

{dagger} Author for correspondence (e-mail: giurfa{at}cict.fr)

Accepted 23 March 2009

Individual Camponotus fellah ants perceive and learn odours in a Y-maze in which one odour is paired with sugar (CS+) while a different odour (CS–) is paired with quinine (differential conditioning). We studied olfactory retention in C. fellah to determine whether olfactory learning leads to long-term memory retrievable 24 h and 72 h after training. One and 3 days after training, ants exhibited robust olfactory memory through a series of five successive retention tests in which they preferred the CS+ and stayed longer in the arm presenting it. In order to determine the nature of the associations memorized, we asked whether choices within the Y-maze were driven by excitatory memory based on choosing the CS+ and/or inhibitory memory based on avoiding the CS–. By confronting ants with a novel odour vs either the CS+ or the CS– we found that learning led to the formation of excitatory memory driving the choice of the CS+ but no inhibitory memory based on the CS– was apparent. Ants even preferred the CS– to the novel odour, thus suggesting that they used the CS– as a contextual cue in which the CS+ was embedded, or as a second-order cue predicting the CS+ and thus the sugar reward. Our results constitute the first controlled account of olfactory long-term memory in individual ants for which the nature of associations could be precisely characterized.

Key words: long-term memory, learning, conditioning, olfaction, ant, Camponotus fellah


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[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


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