Operant visual learning and memory in Drosophila mutants dunce, amnesiac and radish

Learning and memory of Drosophila mutants dunce, amnesiac and radish which were isolated originally from the classical olfactory learning paradigm are analyzed in an operant visual learning paradigm. Dunce appears to show nor mal ability to learn during training, but its memory is significantly affec ted. Though the learning index during the first minute after training is no rmal, its short-term memory (STM), anesthesia-resistant memory (ARM) and lo ng-term memory (LTM) are all significantly damaged. Amnesiac displays disru pted middle-term memory (MTM), while its STM and LTM remain unchanged. Lear ning and memory in radish mutants seem to be unaffected. These results lend support to the argument that there are certain common molecular mechanisms underlying learning and memory through different tasks and the previous mu lti-phase model of visual memory is modified in a genetic way. (C) 1998 Els evier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.