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Updated: Jul 19, 2026

Drosophila Adult Olfactory Shock Learning
Published on: August 7, 2014
A cost of long-term memory in Drosophila
Frederic Mery1, Tadeusz J Kawecki
1Section of Ecology and Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Fribourg, Chemin du Musée 10, CH-1700 Fribourg, Switzerland. frederic.mery@unifr.ch
Abstract:
Two distinct forms of consolidated associative memory are known in Drosophila: long-term memory and so-called anesthesia-resistant memory. Long-term memory is more stable, but unlike anesthesia-resistant memory, its formation requires protein synthesis. We show that flies induced to form long-term memory become more susceptible to extreme stress (such as desiccation). In contrast, induction of anesthesia-resistant memory had no detectable effect on desiccation resistance. This finding may help to explain why evolution has maintained anesthesia-resistant memory as another form of consolidated memory, distinct from long-term memory.
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