Chuck:
Classical conditioning of paramecia has been a controversial
topic. One problem in the case below is that both the CS and
the UCS are the same type of event thus making it difficult to
determine whether or not the backing up represents some kind of
temporal summation of effects of both stimuli.
One needs to run a series of tests to separate true conditioning
from pseudoconditioning.
Here is a reference to a study that may provide some help on
these issues...
Hennessey, T. M., Rucker W. B., & McDiarmid, C. G. (1979).
Classical conditioning in paramecia. Animal Learning &
Behavior, 7, 417-423.
On Tue, 04 Sep 2001 17:51:53 -0500 Chuck Huff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
> OK folks, no answer on my earlier question about how simple an
> organism can be and still show learning. Let me try again.
>
> I talked with a biologist today who works with tetrahymena (a
> one-celled ciliate). He told me that a colleague of his has found
> simple classical conditioning in the paramecium. The colleague used
> two mechanical stimuli as UCS and CS and the direction of swimming as
> the response. (1) a strong enough tremble in the medium to produce
> an "automatic" backing up movement was the UCS and (2) a smaller
> tremble in the medium was the CS. Claim: a small number of pairings
> produced backing up to the CS. My colleague did not know if it was
> published, but planned to ask.
>
> Anyone know of this or similar work with simple organisms?
>
> -Chuck
> --
> - Chuck Huff; 507.646.3169; http://www.stolaf.edu/people/huff/
> - Psychology Department, St.Olaf College, Northfield, MN 55057
----------------------
Kenneth M. Steele, Ph.D. [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Dept. of Psychology
Appalachian State University
Boone, NC 28608
USA
