Aplysia Research Paper
Aplysia is a famous snail in the field of learning and memory who was experimented on to understand how learning worked. The experiment started with shocking the Aplysia snail to teach it of the dangers of its new environment. When the snail’s siphon is touched, it triggers a defensive mechanism, a withdrawal reflex. It is this reflex that lets scientists know the Aplysia has formed new memories as it is on high alert and fearful from its past experiences of getting shocked. The scientists compared two snails, one with past experiences of being shocked and one that had not. The one that had not been shocked had no fear, therefore, was not on high alert and responded with a short-lived 11-second response. By comparison, the Aplysia who has learned through shocks stays on high alert with the reflex lasting 45 seconds, 4 times longer than the other one. This allowed scientist to learn that the snail which had been repeatedly shocked had learned from its experiences and learned to respond accordingly. Scientists also discovered that there is a memory aspect to it which the snail tends to remember, Aplysia snails have few but large neurons, in fact, the biggest in the world. Researchers wanted to learn more about their memories so they
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Scientists can condition them to fear whatever suits their research such as light by shocking them right after exposure, teaching them to associate light with pain. Over repeated exposure to both stimuli, the snail will start fearing the light. The unconditioned stimulus in this example would be the shock which then causes the unconditioned response, in this case, its siphon response. Eventually, the light will become a conditioned stimulus and the fear/reflex would become the conditioned response. This can lead to further findings on learning and memory as well as
Scientists can condition them to fear whatever suits their research such as light by shocking them right after exposure, teaching them to associate light with pain. Over repeated exposure to both stimuli, the snail will start fearing the light. The unconditioned stimulus in this example would be the shock which then causes the unconditioned response, in this case, its siphon response. Eventually, the light will become a conditioned stimulus and the fear/reflex would become the conditioned response. This can lead to further findings on learning and memory as well as