STRAUSFELD, NJ: INSECT MUSHROOM BODIES: DO THEY PLAY A ROLE IN PLACE MEMORY?

Studies of cockroaches have shown that bilateral lesions of the mushroom pedunculus results in the abolish of place memory, as defined by the insects ability to use distant cues for learning and recalling the location of a target that is itself not visually defined. Other studies on mushroom bodies, performed on other taxa and in other laboratories, have suggested that these centers are primarily involved in olfactory learning and memory. Can the mushroom bodies support both visual and olfactory learning and memory? To what degree do the mushroom bodies differ between taxa that are primarily visual versus those that are primarily olfactory? Do mushroom bodies show discrete organizational differences between taxa that exhibit place memory and those that do not? In this talk I will draw from comparative anatomical and physiological studies to provide evidence that mushroom bodies in of certain neopteran insects may indeed support several different functions, including visual and olfactory memory and context dependent behaviors. Such elaborate mushroom bodies, which typify hymenopteran taxa, will be compared in an evolutionary context with simpler centers that are either secondarily derived or that represent “early” palaeopteran and apterygote neuropils.