associative learning during early adulthood enhances later memory retention in honeybees联想学习在成年早期增强后的记忆力在蜜蜂.pdfVIP

Associative Learning during Early Adulthood Enhances Later Memory Retention in Honeybees ´ ´ Andres Arenas, Vanesa M. Fernandez, Walter M. Farina* ´ Grupo de Estudio de Insectos Sociales, IFIBYNE-CONICET, Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biologıa Experimental, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad ´ de Buenos Aires, Pabellon II, Ciudad Universitaria, Buenos Aires, Argentina Abstract Background: Cognitive experiences during the early stages of life play an important role in shaping the future behavior in mammals but also in insects, in which precocious learning can directly modify behaviors later in life depending on both the timing and the rearing environment. However, whether olfactory associative learning acquired early in the adult stage of insects affect memorizing of new learning events has not been studied yet. Methodology: Groups of adult honeybee workers that experienced an odor paired with a sucrose solution 5 to 8 days or 9 to 12 days after emergence were previously exposed to (i) a rewarded experience through the offering of scented food, or (ii) a non-rewarded experience with a pure volatile compound in the rearing environment. Principal Findings: Early rewarded experiences (either at 1–4 or 5–8 days of adult age) enhanced retention performance in 9–12-day-conditioned bees when they were tested at 17 days of age. The highest retention levels at this age, which could not be improved with prior rewarded experiences, were found for memories established at 5–8 days of adult age. Associative memories acquired at 9–12 days of age showed a weak effect on retention for some pure pre-exposed volatile compounds; whereas the sole exposure