Learning in Multiple Behavioral Contexts

University Of Arizona, Tucson AZ

Investigators

Abstract

Learning in Multiple Behavioral Contexts Daniel R. Papaj and Martha R. Weiss The study of animal learning from an ecological perspective is expanding. One area that has received relatively little attention is learning in multiple contexts. This is surprising because most animals must learn in multiple behavioral contexts, and it is reasonable to expect that learning in one context affects learning in another. In the proposed research, a butterfly will be used to address if and how learning interacts across behavioral contexts. Color learning in a species of swallowtail butterfly will be evaluated in egg-laying and nectar-foraging contexts, two situations in which associative learning of color is known to occur in this species and for which dual learning has been demonstrated. The objectives of this proposal include: (1) assess color preferences of native individuals in each behavioral context; (2) assess a butterfly's selectivity to color under training in each context singly. (3) assess a butterfly's selectivity in responses to color combinations under dual training in different contexts and; (4) explore how learning in one context might interfere with learning in the other context. To meet these objectives, a battery of laboratory and enclosure assays will be undertaken. Results of the proposed research will be of general interest to students of animal learning in diverse fields, and will provide a link between work in behavioral ecology, on the one hand, and laboratory-based studies of learning and memory from psychological, ethological, and neurobiological perspectives, on the other. With respect to broader impacts, involvement of undergraduates through university-sponsored programs at both the University of Arizona and Georgetown University will enable students to experience the pleasures and challenges of research first-hand. In addition, an undergraduate-level laboratory exercise on butterfly learning initiated by co-PI Weiss will be refined and made available to the scientific community through the Animal Behavior Society web site. Finally, taking advantage of the broad public appeal of butterflies, our findings will be disseminated not only in scientific publications but also through popular essays, public talks, and visits to primary and secondary schools.