Fig. 3: The simultaneous exposure to fish water and carrot slurry results in long-term memory for configural learning.

A timeline of the experiment is presented above the data. A Sixteen naïve snails were exposed to an appetitive taste (carrot slurry – C), and the number of rasps was recorded for 2 min. Eighteen hours later, snails were simultaneously exposed to fish water (FW) and C for 45 min (CL), and the number of rasps elicited by C alone was recorded 3, 24, and 48 h later. LTM for configural learning was formed as a significant reduction in the number of rasps was found at 3 and 24 h post-CL. At 48 h post-CL, no significant differences in the number of rasps compared to C pre were found, suggesting that LTM for CL lasted for at least 24 h but not 48 h. B Control snails (N = 10) were exposed to PW + C instead of FW + C. No significant differences in the number of rasps elicited by C were found, suggesting that CL was not formed, and the handling procedure did not affect snails’ feeding behavior. Data are represented as means ± SEM and analyzed. Data shown in Fig. 3A were analyzed using the Friedman test followed by Dunn’s post-hoc test, whereas data shown in Fig. 3B were analyzed with RM-ANOVA followed by Tukey post hoc. ****p < 0.0001, **p < 0.01, ns = not significant as p > 0.05.