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Updated: Nov 19, 2025

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Drosophila Courtship Conditioning As a Measure of Learning and Memory
Published on: June 5, 2017
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Conditioned courtship suppression in Drosophila melanogaster
Nicholas Raun1, Spencer Jones1, Jamie M Kramer1
1Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Journal of Neurogenetics
|February 1, 2021
Abstract:
Drosophila melanogaster males reduce courtship behaviour after mating failure. In the lab, such conditioned courtship suppression, aka 'courtship conditioning', serves as a complex learning and memory assay. Interestingly, variations in the courtship conditioning assay can establish different types of memory. Here, we review research investigating the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms that allow male flies to form memories of previous mating failures.

