Learning in Multiple Behavioral Contexts

在多行为语境中学习丹尼尔·R·帕帕吉和玛莎·R·韦斯从生态学角度对动物学习的研究正在扩大。一个相对较少受到关注的领域是在多个背景下进行学习。这是令人惊讶的，因为大多数动物必须在多个行为环境中学习，而在一个环境中的学习会影响另一个环境中的学习，这是合理的。在这项拟议的研究中，一只蝴蝶将被用来研究学习是否以及如何在行为背景下相互作用。一种燕尾蝶的颜色学习将在产卵和觅食花蜜的环境中进行评估，这两种情况下已知在该物种中发生了颜色的联想学习，对偶学习已经证明了这一点。该建议的目标包括：(1)评估本地个体在每个行为背景下的颜色偏好；(2)单独评估一只蝴蝶在每个行为背景下对训练下的颜色的选择性。(3)评估蝴蝶在不同情境下对颜色组合反应的选择性；(4)探索在一个情境中的学习如何干扰在另一个情境中的学习。为了实现这些目标，将进行一系列实验室和围栏分析。拟议的研究结果将对不同领域的动物学习的学生产生普遍的兴趣，并将一方面在行为生态学方面的工作与从心理学、行为学和神经生物学角度对学习和记忆的实验室研究之间建立联系。至于更广泛的影响，通过亚利桑那大学和乔治城大学的大学赞助项目让本科生参与进来，将使学生能够亲身体验研究的乐趣和挑战。此外，由合作者Pi Weiss发起的本科生水平的蝴蝶学习实验室练习将得到改进，并通过动物行为学会的网站提供给科学界。最后，利用蝴蝶对公众的广泛吸引力，我们的研究结果不仅将通过科学出版物传播，还将通过流行文章、公开演讲和访问中小学来传播。

Learning in Multiple Behavioral ContextsDaniel R. Papaj and Martha R. WeissThe 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.