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Lai Y, Massou I, Giurfa M. Mechanisms and rules of social learning in crickets. Learn Behav 2023:10.3758/s13420-023-00597-x. [PMID: 37550546 DOI: 10.3758/s13420-023-00597-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/25/2023] [Indexed: 08/09/2023]
Abstract
A new study on insect social learning shows that crickets learn to prefer a rewarded odorant by observing the choice of a conspecific and without experiencing the reward themselves. The mere perception of the conspecific activates octopaminergic reward neurons in the brain of the observer, thus facilitating odorant learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuan Lai
- Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale, Centre de Biologie Intégrative (CBI), University of Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, 31062, Toulouse cedex 9, France
| | - Isabelle Massou
- Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale, Centre de Biologie Intégrative (CBI), University of Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, 31062, Toulouse cedex 9, France
| | - Martin Giurfa
- Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale, Centre de Biologie Intégrative (CBI), University of Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, 31062, Toulouse cedex 9, France.
- Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), Paris, France.
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Segi Y, Hashimoto K, Mizunami M. Octopamine neurons mediate reward signals in social learning in an insect. iScience 2023; 26:106612. [PMID: 37182108 PMCID: PMC10173605 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.106612] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2022] [Revised: 12/14/2022] [Accepted: 03/29/2023] [Indexed: 05/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Social learning is found in many animals, but its mechanisms are not understood. We previously showed that a cricket that was trained to observe a conspecific staying at a drinking apparatus exhibited an increased preference for the odor of that drinking apparatus. Here we investigated a hypothesis that this learning is achieved by second-order conditioning (SOC), i.e., by associating conspecifics at a drinking bottle with water reward during group drinking in the rearing stage and then associating an odor with a conspecific in training. Injection of an octopamine receptor antagonist before training or testing impaired the learning or response to the learned odor, as we reported for SOC, thereby supporting the hypothesis. Notably, the SOC hypothesis predicts that octopamine neurons that respond to water in the group-rearing stage also respond to a conspecific in training, without the learner itself drinking water, and such mirror-like activities mediate social learning. This awaits future investigation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuma Segi
- Graduate School of Life Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan
| | - Kohei Hashimoto
- Graduate School of Life Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan
| | - Makoto Mizunami
- Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan
- Corresponding author
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Moura PA, Cardoso MZ, Montgomery SH. No evidence of social learning in a socially roosting butterfly in an associative learning task. Biol Lett 2023; 19:20220490. [PMID: 37194257 PMCID: PMC10189306 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2022.0490] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2022] [Accepted: 05/02/2023] [Indexed: 05/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Insects may acquire social information by active communication and through inadvertent social cues. In a foraging setting, the latter may indicate the presence and quality of resources. Although social learning in foraging contexts is prevalent in eusocial species, this behaviour has been hypothesized to also exist between conspecifics in non-social species with sophisticated behaviours, including Heliconius butterflies. Heliconius are the only butterfly genus with active pollen feeding, a dietary innovation associated with a specialized, spatially faithful foraging behaviour known as trap-lining. Long-standing hypotheses suggest that Heliconius may acquire trap-line information by following experienced individuals. Indeed, Heliconius often aggregate in social roosts, which could act as 'information centres', and present conspecific following behaviour, enhancing opportunities for social learning. Here, we provide a direct test of social learning ability in Heliconius using an associative learning task in which naive individuals completed a colour preference test in the presence of demonstrators trained to feed randomly or with a strong colour preference. We found no evidence that Heliconius erato, which roost socially, used social information in this task. Combined with existing field studies, our results add to data which contradict the hypothesized role of social learning in Heliconius foraging behaviour.
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Affiliation(s)
- Priscila A. Moura
- Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, RN, 59078-970, Brazil
| | - Marcio Z. Cardoso
- Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, RN, 59078-970, Brazil
- Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 21941-902, Brazil
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Mito T, Ishimaru Y, Watanabe T, Nakamura T, Ylla G, Noji S, Extavour CG. Cricket: The third domesticated insect. Curr Top Dev Biol 2022; 147:291-306. [PMID: 35337452 DOI: 10.1016/bs.ctdb.2022.02.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
Many researchers are using crickets to conduct research on various topics related to development and regeneration in addition to brain function, behavior, and biological clocks, using advanced functional and perturbational technologies such as genome editing. Recently, crickets have also been attracting attention as a food source for the next generation of humans. In addition, crickets are increasingly being used as disease models and biological factories for pharmaceuticals. Cricket research has thus evolved over the last century from use primarily in highly important basic research, to use in a variety of applications and practical uses. These insects are now a state-of-the-art model animal that can be obtained and maintained in large quantities at low cost. We therefore suggest that crickets are useful as a third domesticated insect for scientific research, after honeybees and silkworms, contributing to the achievement of global sustainable development goals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Taro Mito
- Division of Bioscience and Bioindustry, Graduate School of Technology, Industrial and Social Sciences, Tokushima University, Tokushima City, Tokushima, Japan
| | - Yoshiyasu Ishimaru
- Division of Bioscience and Bioindustry, Graduate School of Technology, Industrial and Social Sciences, Tokushima University, Tokushima City, Tokushima, Japan
| | - Takahito Watanabe
- Division of Bioscience and Bioindustry, Graduate School of Technology, Industrial and Social Sciences, Tokushima University, Tokushima City, Tokushima, Japan
| | - Taro Nakamura
- Division of Evolutionary Developmental Biology, National Institute for Basic Biology, Okazaki, Aichi, Japan
| | - Guillem Ylla
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States; Laboratory of Bioinformatics and Genome Biology, Faculty of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland
| | - Sumihare Noji
- Division of Bioscience and Bioindustry, Graduate School of Technology, Industrial and Social Sciences, Tokushima University, Tokushima City, Tokushima, Japan
| | - Cassandra G Extavour
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States; Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, MD, United States.
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