Presenter and Advisor Information

Brooke M. Dominski, Illinois Wesleyan UniversityFollow

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Submission Type

Pre-recorded Research Talk

Area of Study or Work

Neuroscience

Faculty Advisor

Brad Sheese

Expected Graduation Date

2021

Start Date

4-10-2021 8:00 AM

End Date

4-11-2021 5:00 PM

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The slide for this presentation are linked in a pdf below.

Abstract

Zebrafish are commonly used as model organisms in neuroscience research. Zebrafish have been shown to be capable of learning through operant conditioning. The objective of the proposed study is to examine the effects of alcohol on associative learning. Zebrafish were randomly assigned to different ethanol concentrations: no ethanol, low dose ethanol (6mL), and high dose ethanol (12 mL). Locomotion was observed and recorded during four different time periods: 10 minutes of acclimation, 10 minutes of baseline, 10 minutes of training, and 60 minutes of testing. During the training period, zebrafish learned to avoid shock by swimming on one side of the tank. During the testing period, we examined the persistence of this learned behavior. Our analysis indicates that fish exposed to greater concentrations of ethanol had more difficulties learning the conditioned behavior as reflected in patterns in freezing, triggering shock, and speed of locomotion during both the training and testing period.

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Apr 10th, 8:00 AM Apr 11th, 5:00 PM

Effects of Acute Ethanol Exposure on Learning in Zebrafish

Zebrafish are commonly used as model organisms in neuroscience research. Zebrafish have been shown to be capable of learning through operant conditioning. The objective of the proposed study is to examine the effects of alcohol on associative learning. Zebrafish were randomly assigned to different ethanol concentrations: no ethanol, low dose ethanol (6mL), and high dose ethanol (12 mL). Locomotion was observed and recorded during four different time periods: 10 minutes of acclimation, 10 minutes of baseline, 10 minutes of training, and 60 minutes of testing. During the training period, zebrafish learned to avoid shock by swimming on one side of the tank. During the testing period, we examined the persistence of this learned behavior. Our analysis indicates that fish exposed to greater concentrations of ethanol had more difficulties learning the conditioned behavior as reflected in patterns in freezing, triggering shock, and speed of locomotion during both the training and testing period.