ABSTRACT
Promise Interest in Drosophila melanogaster as a model system for studying associative learning has increased dramatically in recent years (e.g., Stipp, 1991), because the well-understood genetic system of this species makes it unique among the metazoa for use in analysis of the genetic and other biological correlates of relatively simple learning processes. As they have characterized more elements of the behavioral repertoire and evaluated more behavioral effects of stimuli in Drosophila, drosophilists have been able to develop apparatuses and procedures in which they can expose flies to associations between stimuli and then measure behavioral changes which may indicate that the subjects are responding to the association. Evidence that the observed behavioral changes are attributable to associative learning rather than to nonassociative processes continues to improve as more appropriate control procedures are incorporated into Drosophila learning experiments.
