Topic: weathervaning

Animals flexibly adjust behavior depending on the environmental context and learned experience. The nematode C. elegans modulates its preference towards an odor source depending on its pairing with food or starvation. However, precisely how the worm alters its navigation strategy in response to olfactory learning has not been characterized, in part due to challenges with measuring the exact odor cues in the environment. Here, we used a novel apparatus and optogenetics to measure and then model learned odor-navigation strategies in worms. Specifically, we modelled navigation using a Mixture of