Trained Planaria Retain Memories Through Head Regeneration: A Model System for Insights into Non-Neural Memory and Neurodegenerative Diseases

Authors

Dev, N., Nguyen, A., Levin, M.

Abstract

Planaria exhibit remarkable regenerative ability, including the capacity to regrow complete heads and brains after decapitation. Here, we re-investigated whether regenerated planaria can preserve learned avoidance behavior, a phenomenon that has been reported previously but has been difficult to study due to unreliable experimental protocols. Using a light-to-food associative conditioning paradigm, planaria were trained to override their normal photophobic preference and then decapitated. Following a two-week regeneration period, behavioral responses to the conditioned stimulus were re-evaluated. Results indicated that the majority of regenerated planaria retained the learned response, supporting a model in which behavioral patterns can regenerate as well as anatomical patterns. By establishing a consistent, low-cost, and effective protocol for studying memory persistence through regeneration, such work may help inform future research on memory loss, resilience, and recovery in neurodegenerative diseases.

Preprint server: bioRxiv
The authors list and abstract were imported from bioRxiv on 12 Aug 2026.

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