Neuronal representations of olfactory and visual associative learning in mushroom body extrinsic neurons of the honeybee (Apis mellifera) 

Ina Klinke¹ ² and Randolf Menzel ¹ ²
¹ Institut für Neurobiologie, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
² Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience  (BCCN) Berlin, Germany

In order to elucidate the role of distinct feedback neurons at the output region of the honeybee`s mushroom body, we apply extracellular electrophysiological recordings while the bee performs classical conditioning tasks. The aim is to detect correlated changes of spike rate, spiking patterns and spike timing among different neurons measured simultaneously, and collect these activities for longer periods of time (up to three days and nights) searching for neural correlates of memory consolidation.

The learning task is composed of compounds of odors and colors in order to study especially the multisensory features and context dependencies of feedback neurons during classical conditioning and memory retrieval.

The combination of behavioural and electrophysiological methods in the honeybee gives us a unique tool to study brain functions on the single cell level in a small but smart brain.