{
  "abstract": "Planarian flatworms represent one of the most evolutionarily informative nervous systems for an account of ancient bilaterian brains. Likewise, the unparalleled regenerative ability of planarians makes possible certain investigations of neural development, memory, and behavior that are simply impossible with other model organisms. Despite these facts, learning and memory are today underexplored in planarians, likely due in part to the controversial legacy of 20th-century experiments on the transfer of memories between individual flatworms. Here, we attempted to replicate and extend the classical conditioning experiments in planarians that were the basis of the later memory transfer work. We failed to find evidence of learning using both historical and contemporary conditioning protocols, and using computer vision methods to avoid subjectivity in manual video annotation. Our results cast doubt on the suitability of historic conditioning protocols for Girardia dorotocephala and Schmidtea mediterranea planarians. We encourage future researchers to explore more ethologically relevant conditioning paradigms to establish a behavioral foundation for investigating the molecular basis of learning.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Psychology and Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America"
  ],
  "article_type": "Research Article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 3,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Zachary S. Kelso"
    },
    {
      "name": "Madeleine C. Snyder"
    },
    {
      "name": "Samuel J. Gershman"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/2dqy657s1ha1g.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1371/journal.pone.0358756",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "2dqy657s1ha1g",
  "issns": [
    "1932-6203"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0358756",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "1312|Planarian Biology and Electrostimulation"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Neuroscience/Cognitive science/Cognition/Memory"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Neuroscience/Cognitive science/Cognitive psychology/Learning"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Neuroscience/Learning and memory/Learning"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Neuroscience/Learning and memory/Memory"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Organisms/Eukaryota/Animals/Invertebrates/Flatworms/Planarians"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Psychology/Behavior/Behavioral conditioning"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Psychology/Behavior/Behavioral conditioning/Classical conditioning"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Psychology/Behavior/Conditioned response"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Psychology/Cognitive psychology/Learning"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Zoology/Animals/Invertebrates/Flatworms/Planarians"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Physical sciences/Physics/Electromagnetic radiation/Light/Ultraviolet radiation"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Physical sciences/Physics/Electromagnetic radiation/Light/Visible light/White light"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Social sciences/Psychology/Behavior/Behavioral conditioning"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Social sciences/Psychology/Behavior/Behavioral conditioning/Classical conditioning"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Social sciences/Psychology/Behavior/Conditioned response"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Social sciences/Psychology/Cognitive psychology/Learning"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7214119139",
  "pdf_url": "https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0358756&type=printable",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-23",
  "publisher": "Public Library of Science",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/2dqy657s1ha1g.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:17:43Z",
      "native_id": "10.1371/journal.pone.0358756",
      "source": "plos",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0358756"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "plos:neuroscience",
      "subfield": "neuroscience"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Failure to classically condition G. dorotocephala and S. mediterranea flatworms using historical and contemporary light-shock paradigms",
  "title_text": "Failure to classically condition G. dorotocephala and S. mediterranea flatworms using historical and contemporary light-shock paradigms",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:17:43Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/2dqy657s1ha1g",
  "venue": "PLOS One",
  "versions": []
}