CLASSICAL-CONDITIONING DEMONSTRATIONS FOR ELEMENTARY AND ADVANCED COURSES

Although many inexpensive invertebrate preparations are available to d emonstrate principles of learning and memory, some of these preparatio ns are seasonal, and those using honeybees are potentially dangerous. This article describes two new exercises in classical conditioning tha t use earthworms and houseflies. These animals are available year-roun d and pose no risk to the student or instructor. The conditioned stimu li are odorants, which, when paired with the unconditioned stimuli, so on elicit a conditioned response of contraction in worms or proboscis extension in flies. The effectiveness of the earthworm demonstration w as evaluated by comparing it to a computer simulation of the classical -conditioning process. On all major indices, students' work with anima ls increased their understanding of the classical-conditioning process .