system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Can butterflies remember being caterpillars?

During the metamorphosis of insects it seems their cellular structure is completely reorganised. How much of the memory of the individual survives this? For example, if you "trained" a caterpillar or conditioned it to respond in a certain way would the resulting imago remember this conditioning?
gpt
Yes, and it's actually quite amazing that it happens at all. The caterpillar's body breaks down to reorganize into it's adult form yet does retain memories. This was discovered using your example, conditioning. Caterpillars were conditioned to avoid a scent and remembered it as adults. However, it seems events are more likely to be remembered in older caterpillars than younger ones.