An elegant mind: Learning and memory in Caenorhabditis elegans
- Brain Research Centre and Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 2B5, Canada
Abstract
This article reviews the literature on learning and memory in the soil-dwelling nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Paradigms include nonassociative learning, associative learning, and imprinting, as worms have been shown to habituate to mechanical and chemical stimuli, as well as learn the smells, tastes, temperatures, and oxygen levels that predict aversive chemicals or the presence or absence of food. In each case, the neural circuit underlying the behavior has been at least partially described, and forward and reverse genetics are being used to elucidate the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms. Several genes have been identified with no known role other than mediating behavior plasticity.
Footnotes
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↵1 Corresponding author.
E-mail crankin{at}psych.ubc.ca; fax (604) 822-6923.
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- Received September 25, 2009.
- Accepted February 12, 2010.
- © 2010 Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
