Learning in Multiple Behavioral Contexts

多种行为背景下的学习从生态学角度对动物学习的研究正在扩大。一个受到相对较少关注的领域是在多种环境下学习。这是令人惊讶的，因为大多数动物必须在多种行为环境中学习，而在一种环境中的学习影响另一种环境的学习是合理的。在拟议的研究中，蝴蝶将被用来解决学习是否以及如何在行为环境中相互作用。一种燕尾蝶的颜色学习将在产卵和采蜜两种情况下进行评估，在这两种情况下，已知该物种会发生颜色的联想学习，并且已经证明了双重学习。本研究的目标包括：(1)评估土著个体在不同行为背景下的颜色偏好；(2)分别评估每种情况下训练下蝴蝶对颜色的选择性。(3)在不同的环境和条件下评估蝴蝶对颜色组合的选择性反应；(4)探索一种情境下的学习如何干扰另一种情境下的学习。为了达到这些目标，将进行一系列的实验室和围场分析。该研究的结果将引起不同领域动物学习的学生的普遍兴趣，并将提供行为生态学工作与基于实验室的学习和记忆研究之间的联系，从心理学、行为学和神经生物学的角度来看，另一方面。就更广泛的影响而言，亚利桑那大学和乔治城大学的本科生通过大学赞助的项目参与，将使学生能够亲身体验研究的乐趣和挑战。此外，一项由共同负责人魏斯发起的关于蝴蝶学习的本科生水平的实验室练习将被改进，并通过动物行为学会网站向科学界提供。最后，利用蝴蝶对公众的广泛吸引力，我们的发现不仅将在科学出版物上传播，还将通过流行散文、公开演讲和对中小学的访问来传播。

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.