# Spatial learning in microorganisms
Tags: cell-biology, microbiology, learning
- Score: 7
- Views: 208
- Answers: 1
- Answered: yes
- Asked by: Dan Bryant (471 rep)
- Asked: 2015-07-02
- Site: biology
## Question
Has there ever been an experiment performed that demonstrated a form of 'spatial memory' in a unicellular organism? I'm imagining something analogous to the classic 'rat in maze' experiments, but obviously on a much smaller scale. Possibly even something as simple as following a concentration gradient, but choosing to go either upstream or downstream based on some sort of prior reward in a similar circumstance.
## Answers
### Answer by AJK (score: 3 [ACCEPTED])
To build on busukxuan's answer, there are a lot of single-celled organism responses that kind of resemble memory:
Slime mold uses an externalized spatial 'memory' to navigate in complex environments - essentially, a slime mold leaves behind a trail, which it then avoids, allowing it to avoid where it has traveled in the past.
If you apply a periodic stimulus to Physarum, it will anticipate the next stimulus: Popular, openly accessible summary Paywalled journal article.
If the amoeba Dictyostelium sees an
Frontiers | Relation between learning process and morphology of transport tube network in plasmodium of Physarum polycephalum
#### Evolutionary Developmental Biology
Published inFrontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology 5.3 impact factor9.9 citescore
Part of a Research TopicEthological Dynamics in Diorama Environments87k views16 articles
## ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Cell Dev. Biol., 10 November 2023
Sec. Evolutionary Developmental Biology
Volume 11 - 2023 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fcell.2023.1249165
# Relation between learning process and morphology of transport tube network in plasmodium of Physarum polycephalum
- EYEmiri Yoneoka
- ATAtsuko Takamatsu *
Department of Electrical Engineering and Bioscience, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan
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## Abstract
The question of whether a single-celled organism without a brain could have functions such as learning and memory has been the subject of much debate in recent years. The plasmodium of the true slime mold, Physarum polycephalum, is an ideal model organism for such a question. The plasmodium exhibits behaviors that resemble intelligence, including solving mazes, mimicking optimal rail tr
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