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Modification of the behavioral hierarchy ofPleurobranchaea

I. Satiation and feeding motivation

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Summary

  1. 1.

    Unrelated acts of behavior inPleurobranchaea are organized into a behavioral hierarchy (Fig. 1), in which feeding behavior takes precedence over righting behavior and over withdrawal of the head and oral veil from tactile stimulation. The present paper examines the effect on the behavioral hierarchy of one form of experience that affects feeding motivation, namely, food satiation.

  2. 2.

    Feeding specimens to satiation with raw squid increased the threshold of the feeding response measured using dilutions of squid homogenate (Fig. 4). These and the following effects of satiation were determined by comparing experimental (sated) to control (unsated) specimens using a “blind” experimental protocol, and were evident within minutes of satiation (Figs. 15, 16).

  3. 3.

    Application of squid homogenate before and at various times after satiation suppressed righting behavior (Figs. 5, 6), whether or not feeding behavior occurred (Fig. 6).

  4. 4.

    Strong tactile stimulation of the oral veil with a constant-strength mechanical stimulator (Fig. 2) caused withdrawal of the head and oral veil. This response remained constant over 10 trials repeated every 60 s (Fig. 3). In unsated specimens, the presentation of squid homogenate reduced the withdrawal response to 50–75% of control values (Figs. 7, 9), providing a quantitative demonstration of the dominance of feeding over withdrawal. Application of squid homogenate at various times after satiation did not suppress withdrawal (Figs. 7, 9) unless active feeding behavior occurred (Figs. 8, 10).

  5. 5.

    The data show that the usual dominance of feeding behavior over righting behavior is independent of feeding motivation and dependent only on the presence of chemosensory stimuli that cause feeding. In contrast, the usual dominance of feeding behavior over withdrawal is dependent on the execution of feeding behavior.

  6. 6.

    These behavioral observations suggest a dual cellular mechanism for the dominant position of feeding in the behavioral hierarchy (Fig. 17): direct inhibition of subordinate behaviors by sensory pathways that cause the dominant behavior (in the case of feeding versus righting); and inhibition of subordinate behaviors by central neurons that control the dominant behavior (in the case of feeding versus withdrawal).

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This work was supported by NIH Research Grants NS-09050 and MH 23254 to WJ. Davis and NIH postdoctoral fellowships to GJ. Mpitsos and J.L. Ram. The Department of Anatomy, Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, provided support to G.J. Mpitsos during part of this work. Dr. Rhanor Gillette collected the data in Table 1; we thank him for permission to report them here.

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Davis, W.J., Mpitsos, G.J., Michael Pinneo, J. et al. Modification of the behavioral hierarchy ofPleurobranchaea . J. Comp. Physiol. 117, 99–125 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00605525

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00605525

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