Data for research article: "Visual associative learning in Wood Ants"

This data set contains the raw data used in the accepted manuscript "Visual associative learning in wood ants", by the Journal of Experimental Biology. In these experiments, wood ants followed a paired or unpaired classical conditioning training that used a visual cue as the conditional stimulus (CS) and sucrose as the unconditional stimulus. These ants were tested either 10 minutes or 1 hour after training. The data set contains the ants' responses to the CS during training and testing, which consist in the Maxilla-Labium Extension Reflex. This is divided in three types of responses, depending on the mouth structures visible and their movement. Responses are noted as 1 if positive and 0 if negative (no response). Abstract from research paperWood ants are a model system for studying visual learning and navigation. They can forage for food and navigate to their nests effectively by forming memories of visual features in their surrounding environment. Previous studies of freely behaving ants have revealed many of the behavioural strategies and environmental features necessary for successful navigation. However, little is known about the exact visual properties of the environment that animals learn or the neural mechanisms that allow them to achieve this. As a first step towards addressing this, we developed a classical conditioning paradigm for visual learning in harnessed wood ants that allows us to control precisely the learned visual cues. In this paradigm, ants are fixed and presented with a visual cue paired with an appetitive sugar reward. Using this paradigm, we found that visual cues learnt by wood ants through Pavlovian conditioning are retained for at least one hour. Furthermore, we found that memory retention is dependent upon the ants’ performance during training. Our study provides the first evidence that wood ants can form visual associative memories when restrained. This classical conditioning paradigm has the potential to permit detailed analysis of the dynamics of memory formation and retention, and the neural basis of learning in wood ants.本数据集包含已被《Journal of Experimental Biology》（实验生物学杂志）接收的学术论文"Visual associative learning in wood ants"（木蚁的视觉联想学习）所使用的原始实验数据。 本实验中，木蚁接受配对或非配对的经典条件反射训练，以视觉线索作为条件刺激（conditional stimulus, CS），蔗糖作为非条件刺激。训练结束后，研究人员分别在10分钟或1小时对木蚁进行行为测试。 数据集收录了木蚁在训练与测试阶段对条件刺激的反应，该反应为颚唇伸展反射（Maxilla-Labium Extension Reflex）。根据可见的口部结构及其运动状态，该反应被划分为三种类型。反应以1标记为阳性反应，以0标记为阴性反应（无反应）。 【研究论文摘要】木蚁是研究视觉学习与导航的经典模式生物。它们可通过对周围环境的视觉特征形成记忆，高效完成觅食与归巢行为。此前针对自由活动木蚁的研究已揭示了成功导航所需的多项行为策略与环境特征，但目前学界对动物所学习的环境精确视觉属性，以及支撑其完成该认知过程的神经机制仍知之甚少。为解决这一科学问题，本研究首先建立了适用于束缚状态木蚁的视觉经典条件反射范式，可精准控制用于学习的视觉线索。在此范式中，木蚁被固定，并接受与奖赏性糖类奖励配对的视觉线索刺激。利用该范式，我们发现木蚁通过巴甫洛夫条件反射习得的视觉线索记忆至少可保留1小时。此外，我们还发现记忆保留时长与木蚁在训练阶段的表现存在相关性。本研究首次证实，束缚状态下的木蚁可形成视觉联想记忆。该经典条件反射范式有望为深入分析木蚁记忆形成与保留的动态过程，以及学习行为的神经基础提供可行的研究途径。