Article

Discrimination learning and extinction in paramecia (P. caudatum).

Department of Psychology, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH 43606, USA.
Psychological Reports (impact factor: 0.44). 07/2006; 98(3):705-11.
Source: PubMed

ABSTRACT Prior attempts to condition a one-celled organism, paramecium, by either classical or instrumental procedures have yielded both positive and negative results. As the results of those studies may be subject to several interpretations other than one indicating learning, it was decided to use a more traditional technique for the present study. This experiment was designed to assess whether aversive electric shock could be used to train paramecia on a brightness discrimination task, a procedure that has been used in animal learning research. The results indicated that such learning may have occurred.

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    Article: Learning in a simple biological system: a pilot study of classical conditioning of human macrophages in vitro.
    Gustav Nilsonne, Alva Appelgren, John Axelsson, Mats Fredrikson, Mats Lekander
    [show abstract] [hide abstract]
    ABSTRACT: Recent advances in cell biology and gene regulation suggest mechanisms whereby associative learning could be performed by single cells. Therefore, we explored a model of classical conditioning in human macrophages in vitro. In macrophage cultures, bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS; unconditioned stimulus) was paired once with streptomycin (conditioned stimulus). Secretion of interleukin-6 (IL-6) was used as response measure. At evocation, conditioning was not observed. Levels of IL-6 were higher only in those cultures that had been exposed to LPS in the learning phase (p's < .05), regardless whether they received the conditioned stimulus or not at evocation.However, habituation was evident, with a 62% loss of the IL-6 response after three LPS presentations (p < .001). If further experiments confirm that simple learning can occur in immune cells, this may have bearings not only on immune regulation, but also on the brain response to molecular signals detected in the periphery. Importantly, whether capacities for simple learning in single cells extend beyond habituation, and how this would be demonstrated, remain open questions.
    Behavioral and Brain Functions 11/2011; 7:47. · 2.13 Impact Factor
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Keywords

attempts
 
brightness discrimination task
 
classical
 
instrumental procedures
 
one-celled organism
 
paramecium
 
traditional technique
 
train paramecia