Behavioral and Neural Mechanisms of Decision-Making in Drosophila Público

Abstract

Decision-making is a crucial cognitive process that allows humans and animals to enact behavioral responses appropriate to environmental stimuli. This thesis investigates how Drosophila melanogaster make value-based decisions during foraging by examining stimulus memorization, stimulus comparison, and the underlying neural mechanisms of decision-making. Food-choice behavioral assays partially support a reinforcement learning-based model of memory-informed decision-making and show that flies compare and integrate stimuli using divisive rather than subtractive differences. Optogenetic silencing of PAM dopaminergic neurons yielded inconclusive results, likely due to experimental limitations. By offering support for reinforcement learning-based and divisive models of foraging, as a whole, our findings shed light on the complex decision-making behaviors of Drosophila, and lay the groundwork for future studies on the neural circuitry of decision-making. 

Table of Contents

Introduction .................... 1

1.1 Background

1.2 Drosophila and Drosophila Foraging as a Model System

1.3 Memory of Gustatory Stimuli in Drosophila

1.4 Models of Memory in Drosophila

1.5 Comparative Integration of Gustatory Stimuli in Drosophila

1.6 Neural Mechanisms of Decision-Making in Drosophila

1.7 Aims and Hypotheses

Materials and Methods .................... 11

2.1 Fly Stocks and Husbandry

2.2 Genetic Crosses for Optogenetics

2.3 Preparation of Sucrose Solutions for Patches

2.4 Behavioral Assays

2.5 Data Processing and Statistical Analysis

2.6 Resource Table

Results .................. 17

3.1 Drosophila Foraging Behavior Does Not Support Any One Model of Decision-Making

3.2 Drosophila Use a Divisive Model Of Comparison

3.3 Role of PAM Neurons in Decision-Making

Discussion .................. 27

4.1 Discussion of Results

4.2 Future Directions

References .................. 30

About this Honors Thesis

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School	Emory College
Department	Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology
Degree	B.S.
Submission	Honors Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Biology, General Biology, Neuroscience
Palavra-chave	Mushroom Body Decision-Making Foraging Drosophila
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Anita V. Devineni, Emory University
Committee Members	Patrick Cafferty, Emory University J. Alex Grizzell, Emory University

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