Associative Conditioning of a Molluscan Memory Matrix

Olfactory information is used to trigger or guide several different behaviors in the terrestrial mollusc Limax maximus. Food selection, mate selection, and navigation all involve critical assessments of olfactory cues. The meaning of food odors can be altered by associative learning. 

The olfactory processing circuit in the cerebral ganglia of Limax will be described, as will the system and cellular level analyses of its function. A highly interconnected interneuronal network in the procerebral lobes of the cerebral ganglia may play a critical role in odor recognition. An experimental strategy to examine the role of the procerebral lobes in odor information processing will be presented.