Low-Dimensional Signatures of Neuronal Activity Associated With Long-Term Operant Conditioning in Aplysia

Authors

Sara Vanaki
Nicholas O Gonzalez
Curtis L Neveu
Yuto Momohara
Behnaam Aazhang
John H Byrne

Language

English

Publication Date

12-15-2025

Journal

Communications Biology

DOI

10.1038/s42003-025-09357-1

PMID

41398471

PMCID

PMC12820046

PubMedCentral® Posted Date

12-15-2025

PubMedCentral® Full Text Version

Post-print

Abstract

Operant conditioning is a form of learning in which a behavior is reinforced by reward. Operant conditioning has multiple temporal domains, ranging from short-term, lasting a few minutes, to long-term, persisting for at least 24 h. The extent to which short- and long-term operant conditioning memories rely on shared or separate neural mechanisms is poorly understood. Voltage-sensitive dye (VSD) imaging has been used previously to record the activity of a large number of neurons simultaneously in the buccal ganglion to measure changes in neuronal activity during short-term operant conditioning. We examined neuronal activity using VSD 24 h after operant conditioning and compared these results with those from short-term operant conditioning to assess the extent to which short-term and long-term operant conditioning share common neural correlates. Non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) isolated the temporal signature of neuronal activity. Similar to short-term operant conditioning, long-term operant conditioning resulted in an earlier recruitment of an NMF module that corresponded to the retraction phase of feeding behavior, which indicated that the temporal signatures of short- and long-term operant conditioning share similar features. In contrast to short-term operant conditioning, long-term operant conditioning engaged a larger population of retraction neurons in a region of the buccal ganglion containing sensory neurons. These findings suggest that a more extensive network is involved in long-term operant conditioning memory.

Keywords

Animals, Conditioning, Operant, Aplysia, Neurons, Voltage-Sensitive Dye Imaging, Neural circuits, Computational neuroscience

Published Open-Access

yes

Recommended Citation

Vanaki, Sara; Gonzalez, Nicholas O; Neveu, Curtis L; et al., "Low-Dimensional Signatures of Neuronal Activity Associated With Long-Term Operant Conditioning in Aplysia" (2025). Faculty, Staff and Student Publications. 5421.
https://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/uthgsbs_docs/5421