Abstract
Cephalopods, particularly the octopus, have the largest and most complex invertebrate brains and are show markers of behavioral complexity. However, learning and possible concomitant neurogenesis have never been fully described in the octopus. In order to address this need, we will expose octopus vulgaris to an enriched environment and test for behavioral learning and neurogenesis. Specifically, octopuses will be placed in either an enriched or standard environment control condition and exposed to various problem-solving tasks and time trials over the course of 30 days. At the conclusion of the tasks, octopus vulgaris will be presented with a series of novel tasks for 6 days to see if acquired learning has taken place. Neurogenesis, the birth of new neurons, will be examined as a neural correlate to lenared behavior. Thymidine analog incorporation assays, immunostaining, and cell death assays will be used to examine proliferation, migration, and differentiation of neural stem cells. Our hypothesis is that compared to the control condition, the octopuses from the enriched environment condition 1. will show greater learning on the problem solving tasks and 2. concomitant changes in neurogenesis specifically in the vertical lobe, which is thought to be analogous to the hippocampus of mammalian brains.
Faculty Sponsors
Dr. James Munoz, Dr. Jaime Tartar, Dr. Mahmood S. Shivji
Project Type
Event
Location
Alvin Sherman Library
Start Date
4-12-2013 1:00 PM
End Date
4-12-2013 5:30 PM
The Effects of Enriched Environments on Learning and Neurogenesis in Octopus vulgaris
Alvin Sherman Library
Cephalopods, particularly the octopus, have the largest and most complex invertebrate brains and are show markers of behavioral complexity. However, learning and possible concomitant neurogenesis have never been fully described in the octopus. In order to address this need, we will expose octopus vulgaris to an enriched environment and test for behavioral learning and neurogenesis. Specifically, octopuses will be placed in either an enriched or standard environment control condition and exposed to various problem-solving tasks and time trials over the course of 30 days. At the conclusion of the tasks, octopus vulgaris will be presented with a series of novel tasks for 6 days to see if acquired learning has taken place. Neurogenesis, the birth of new neurons, will be examined as a neural correlate to lenared behavior. Thymidine analog incorporation assays, immunostaining, and cell death assays will be used to examine proliferation, migration, and differentiation of neural stem cells. Our hypothesis is that compared to the control condition, the octopuses from the enriched environment condition 1. will show greater learning on the problem solving tasks and 2. concomitant changes in neurogenesis specifically in the vertical lobe, which is thought to be analogous to the hippocampus of mammalian brains.
