Files in this item
Associative learning in insects : evolutionary models, mushroom bodies, and a neuroscientific conundrum
Item metadata
dc.contributor.author | Hollis, Karen | |
dc.contributor.author | Guillette, Lauren | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2013-05-29T14:31:02Z | |
dc.date.available | 2013-05-29T14:31:02Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2011 | |
dc.identifier.citation | Hollis , K & Guillette , L 2011 , ' Associative learning in insects : evolutionary models, mushroom bodies, and a neuroscientific conundrum ' , Comparative Cognition & Behavior Reviews , vol. 6 , pp. 24-245 . | en |
dc.identifier.issn | 1911-4745 | |
dc.identifier.other | PURE: 49564470 | |
dc.identifier.other | PURE UUID: 2efee509-aa3d-4a2c-bdc3-d52f52787ea2 | |
dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/10023/3568 | |
dc.description.abstract | Environmental predictability has for many years been posited to be a key variable in whether learning is expected to evolve in particular species, a claim revisited in two recent papers. However, amongst many researchers, especially neuroscientists, consensus is building for a very different view, namely that learning ability may be an emergent property of nervous systems and, thus, all animals with nervous systems should be able to learn. Here we explore these differing views, sample research on associative learning in insects, and review our own work demonstrating learning in larval antlions (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontidae), a highly unlikely insect candidate. We conclude by asserting that the capacity for associative learning is the default condition favored by neuroscientists: Whenever selection pressures favor evolution of nervous systems, the capacity for associative learning follows ipso facto. Nonetheless, to reconcile these disparate views, we suggest that (a) models for the evolution of learning may instead be models for conditions overriding behavioral plasticity; and, (b) costs of learning in insects may be, in fact, costs associated with more complex cognitive skills, skills that are just beginning to be discovered, rather than simple associative learning. | |
dc.language.iso | eng | |
dc.relation.ispartof | Comparative Cognition & Behavior Reviews | en |
dc.rights | (c) The authors, published by Comparative Cognition Society | en |
dc.subject | insect learning | en |
dc.subject | invertebrate learning | en |
dc.subject | associative learning | en |
dc.subject | insect behavior | en |
dc.subject | antlions | en |
dc.subject | Neuroptera | en |
dc.subject | Myrmeleontidae | en |
dc.subject | sit-and wait predation | en |
dc.subject | QL Zoology | en |
dc.subject | QH Natural history | en |
dc.subject.lcc | QL | en |
dc.subject.lcc | QH | en |
dc.title | Associative learning in insects : evolutionary models, mushroom bodies, and a neuroscientific conundrum | en |
dc.type | Journal article | en |
dc.description.version | Publisher PDF | en |
dc.contributor.institution | University of St Andrews. School of Biology | en |
dc.contributor.institution | University of St Andrews. Centre for Social Learning & Cognitive Evolution | en |
dc.description.status | Peer reviewed | en |
dc.identifier.url | http://comparative-cognition-and-behavior-reviews.org/Vol6/HollisABS.html | en |
This item appears in the following Collection(s)
Items in the St Andrews Research Repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.