Avoiding danger is one of the most essential and conserved set of behaviours. To optimize an animal’s survival, avoidance responses need to be fast and reliable, but also flexible and adaptable to the current context. However, how this flexibility in behavioural output is implemented in the brain is largely unknown. The goal of my lab is to identify how information about the environment and state can adapt behavioural decision making. We approach this by using a highly standardized assay where we compare innate reactions and neural circuit activity while changing selected contextual elements, with the aim to identify principles of behavioural flexibility that are conserved (or not) across contexts and species. During this seminar, I will talk about the general brain circuit architecture that allows for contextual information to shape innate behaviours, and focus on ambient light- and habitat-dependent permanent changes in innate behaviour and in specific underlying circuit nodes.
Organizer
Robin Broers
r.broers@erasmusmc.nl