A network model for learning-induced changes in odor representation in the antennal lobe

Michael Schmuker (1) , Marcel Weidert (1) , Randolf Menzel (1)

1 Institute for Biology - Neurobiology

The antennal lobe (AL) is the insect homolog of the olfactory bulb in mammals. As such, it is the first processing station in the insect olfactory system. It has been shown previously that odorant representations change during associative odor learning, but contradictory findings have also been published. We recorded Ca2+-activity of uniglomerular projection neurons (PNs) in the AL of the honeybee Apis mellifera during differential olfactory conditioning. Our results indicate that the activity pattern of PNs in response to odorants can change for the conditioned odor, for the unconditioned odor and for control odors which were not presented during conditioning. We designed a computational model of the glomerular network that can explain the apparent contradiction between the findings we present here and previously reported results.

Mots clés: Olfaction; Learning; Neural coding; Simulation

Domaines: Neurosciences [q-bio.NC]; Neurosciences

Michael Schmuker, Marcel Weidert, Randolf Menzel. A network model for learning-induced changes in odor representation in the antennal lobe. Deuxième conférence française de Neurosciences Computationnelles, "Neurocomp08", Oct 2008, Marseille, France. ⟨hal-00331593⟩