CRCNS: Decision-making in flying insects using multisensory cues

描述（由申请人提供）：这个项目解决了一个基本问题：感官经验的历史是如何影响行为决策的？我们在蚊子寻找宿主的神经行为学背景下解决了这个问题，其中热量和二氧化碳信号的存在触发和直接搜索行为。这个项目有几个新颖的方面。它将定量地探索自然行为背景下的这种协同刺激相互作用，并基于行为和神经数据开发多感觉整合模型。通过记录和直接数值模拟来解决嗅觉和热刺激统计结构的空间变化，并研究湍流平流标量场的普遍特性是否可以为源定位和塑造神经反应提供感官证据。我们将获得新的神经记录，以响应多个时变输入。通过对蚊子进行绳系飞行准备，我们将能够记录蚊子在受限飞行过程中的神经活动，并直接关联感觉神经

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This project addresses the fundamental question: how does the history of sensory experience affect behavioral decision-making? We address this problem in the neuroethological context of mosquito host seeking, in which the presence of thermal and carbon dioxide signals trigger and direct search behavior. This project has several novel aspects. It will quantitatively explore this synergistic stimulus interaction in the context f a natural behavior and develop models for multisensory integration based both on behavioral and neural data. It will address the spatial variations in the statistical structure of olfactory and thermal stimuli through recordings and direct numerical simulations, and examine whether the universal properties of turbulently advected scalar fields can provide sensory evidence for source location and shape neural responses. We will obtain novel neural recordings in response to multiple time-varying inputs. By a developing tethered flight preparation for mosquitoes, we will be able to record neural activity during constrained flight and directly relate sensory neural responses to behavioral outcomes. The results from this project may help in the design of noninvasive mosquito repellents or attractants and so have an impact on disease transmission. The work may also have impact beyond insect physiology in the design of algorithms for novel sensors in the olfactory domain. Additional broader impacts from this project arise from educational and community engagement through interdisciplinary training of undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctoral fellows; active involvement of our research groups in the broader goals of integrated education and research experiences in the areas of Computational Neuroscience and Neural Engineering through new campus-wide initiatives; communication of our results to the community through a wide variety of social media; and participation in outreach activities to teachers and K-12 classrooms.