The neurobiology of spontaneous behavior and ist modulation by reafferent stimuli in Drosophila

了解我们行为的后果（操作性学习）是我们学习理解我们所生活的世界的主要方式之一。尽管我们最近在学习和记忆的神经生物学方面取得了进展，但这种“边做边学”在很大程度上经受住了神经生物学的审查。这项提议旨在阐明自发行为选择的分子和神经生物学机制，以及决策是如何被这种行为的后果所调节的。这项研究将在一个遗传学上可行的模型系统中进行，果蝇。我们将使用最先进的遗传和行为技术，以确定电路和分子过程参与产生自发转向行为和它的调制操作性学习。操作性学习只是许多控制行为组织的系统之一。本研究的长期前景是了解多个记忆系统如何相互作用以完成适应性行为选择和决策。

Learning about the consequences of our actions (operant learning) is one of the major ways in which we learn to understand the world we live in. Despite our recent advances in the neurobiology of learning and memory, this “learning-by-doing” has largely withstood neurobiological scrutiny. This proposal aims to elucidate the molecular and neurobiological mechanisms of spontaneous behavioral choice and how decision-making is modulated by the consequences of such actions. This research will be done in a genetically amenable model system, the fruit fly Drosophila. We will use state-of-the-art genetic and behavioral tech-niques to identify the circuitry and molecular processes involved in generating spontaneous turning behavior and its modulation by operant learning. Operant learning is only one system among many which govern the organization of behavior. The long-term prospect of this re-search beyond this application is to understand how multiple memory systems interact to accomplish adaptive behavioral choice and decision-making.