Neural organization predicts stimulus specificity for a retained associative behavioral change.

Paired, but not random, presentations of light and rotation produced long-term changes in Hermissenda's response to light. The nature of this change depended on the orientation of the animals with respect to the center of rotation and was predicted by known organizational features of Hermissenda's nervous system. When rotation that excited caudal hair cells was paired with light, a significant increase in response latency to test lights resulted. Rotation exciting cephalic hair cells when paired with light decreased the response latencies compared with latencies produced by random presentation of light and rotation.