Topic: D. melanogaster

Foraging animals make decisions based on cues that are unreliable predictors of reward. In these situations, the ratio with which an animal divides its choices between cues matches the ratios with which they provide reward. This operant matching strategy is widespread amongst vertebrates. Performing operant matching requires animals to possess a valuation of available cues, and to update them when cue-reward relationships change. While neurons that represent value information have been found in several brain regions, less is known about how value is updated. Theoretical studies suggest that th

Animal ability to orient and navigate requires selecting appropriate motor responses based on the perception and integration of the environmental information. This is the case of the optokinetic response (OKR) in D. melanogaster, where optic flow visual stimulation modulates walking or flying patterns. Despite a large body of literature on OKR, there is still limited understanding about the impact on OKR of concomitant, potentially conflictual, inputs originating from other sensory channels, as happens in the environment (multimodal integration). We combined optic flow stimulation with the pre