Associative learning of Drosophila melanogaster

THROUGH the work of Benzer 1,2 , attention has been focussed on behavioural studies of Drosophila melanogaster and the possibilities of a genetic approach to the investigation of nervous systems. For example, experiments on phototaxis 1 and optomotor response 3,4 have made possible the selection of behavioural mutants in which relectrophysiologica 5,6 and neuro-anatomical 7 correlates could be established. With the analysis of the mechanism of information storage and (or) learning as our ultimate goal, we have attempted to demonstrate associative learning with respect to optical stimuli in Drosophila . Here we report our first successful experiments.