Fig. 7: Treating snails with alprazolam (0.1 μM for 15 min) blocks the enhancement of long-term memory formation for the operant conditioning of aerial respiration and prevents configural learning.

A timeline of the experiment is presented above the data. A Ten naïve snails were exposed to alprazolam 0.1 μM for 15 min and immediately later to FW for 1 h. Three hours later, snails were trained with a single training session (TS), and the LTM for the operant conditioning of aerial respiration was tested 24 h later (MT). No significant reduction in the number of attempted pneumostome openings was found, suggesting that LTM was not enhanced. B Ten naïve snails were exposed to carrot slurry (C), and the feeding behavior (i.e., number of rasps) was recorded for 2 min. 18 h later, snails were exposed to alprazolam 0.1 μM for 15 min and, immediately later, were simultaneously exposed to fish water (FW) and carrot. When the number of rasps elicited by the carrot was recorded 3 h later, no significant reduction in the number of rasps was found, suggesting that configural learning was not formed. Data are represented as single data points and were analyzed with paired t-tests. ns = not significant as p > 0.05.