@article {70145, title = {Foraging as an ethological framework for neuroscience.}, journal = {Trends Neurosci}, year = {2025}, month = {2025 Oct 06}, abstract = {

The study of foraging is central to a renewed interest in naturalistic behavior in neuroscience. Applying a foraging framework grounded in behavioral ecology has enabled probing of the mechanisms underlying cognitive processes such as decision-making within a more ecological context. Yet, foraging also involves myriad other aspects, including navigation of complex environments, sensory processing, and social interactions. Here, we first provide a brief overview of the neuroscience of foraging decisions, and then combine insights from behavioral ecology and neuroscience to review the role of these additional dimensions of foraging. We conclude by highlighting four opportunities for the continued development of foraging as an ethological framework for neuroscience: integrating normative and implementation-level models, developing new tools, enabling cross-species comparisons, and fostering interdisciplinary collaboration.

}, issn = {1878-108X}, doi = {10.1016/j.tins.2025.08.006}, url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tins.2025.08.006}, author = {Grima, Laura L and Haberkern, Hannah and Mohanta, Rishika and Morimoto, Mai M and Rajagopalan, Adithya E and Scholey, Emma V} } @article {68837, title = {Input density tunes Kenyon cell sensory responses in the Drosophila mushroom body.}, journal = {Current Biology}, year = {2023}, month = {2023 Jun 20}, abstract = {

The ability to discriminate sensory stimuli with overlapping features is thought to arise in brain structures called expansion layers, where neurons carrying information about sensory features make combinatorial connections onto a much larger set of cells. For 50 years, expansion coding has been a prime topic of theoretical neuroscience, which seeks to explain how quantitative parameters of the expansion circuit influence sensory sensitivity, discrimination, and generalization. Here, we investigate the developmental events that produce the quantitative parameters of the arthropod expansion layer, called the mushroom body. Using Drosophila melanogaster as a model, we employ genetic and chemical tools to engineer changes to circuit development. These allow us to produce living animals with hypothesis-driven variations on natural expansion layer wiring parameters. We then test the functional and behavioral consequences. By altering the number of expansion layer neurons (Kenyon cells) and their dendritic complexity, we find that input density, but not cell number, tunes neuronal odor selectivity. Simple odor discrimination behavior is maintained when the Kenyon cell number is reduced and augmented by Kenyon cell number expansion. Animals with increased input density to each Kenyon cell show increased overlap in Kenyon cell odor responses and become worse at odor discrimination tasks.

}, issn = {1879-0445}, doi = {10.1016/j.cub.2023.05.064}, author = {Ahmed, Maria and Rajagopalan, Adithya E and Pan, Yijie and Li, Ye and Williams, Donnell L and Pedersen, Erik A and Thakral, Manav and Previero, Angelica and Close, Kari C and Christoforou, Christina P and Cai, Dawen and Turner, Glenn C and Clowney, E Josephine} } @article {68886, title = {Input density tunes Kenyon cell sensory responses in the Drosophila mushroom body.}, journal = {Current Biology}, volume = {33}, year = {2023}, month = {2023 Jul 10}, pages = {2742-2760.e12}, abstract = {

The ability to discriminate sensory stimuli with overlapping features is thought to arise in brain structures called expansion layers, where neurons carrying information about sensory features make combinatorial connections onto a much larger set of cells. For 50 years, expansion coding has been a prime topic of theoretical neuroscience, which seeks to explain how quantitative parameters of the expansion circuit influence sensory sensitivity, discrimination, and generalization. Here, we investigate the developmental events that produce the quantitative parameters of the arthropod expansion layer, called the mushroom body. Using Drosophila melanogaster as a model, we employ genetic and chemical tools to engineer changes to circuit development. These allow us to produce living animals with hypothesis-driven variations on natural expansion layer wiring parameters. We then test the functional and behavioral consequences. By altering the number of expansion layer neurons (Kenyon cells) and their dendritic complexity, we find that input density, but not cell number, tunes neuronal odor selectivity. Simple odor discrimination behavior is maintained when the Kenyon cell number is reduced and augmented by Kenyon cell number expansion. Animals with increased input density to each Kenyon cell show increased overlap in Kenyon cell odor responses and become worse at odor discrimination tasks.

}, keywords = {Animals, Drosophila, Drosophila melanogaster, Drosophila Proteins, Mushroom Bodies, Neurons, Odorants}, issn = {1879-0445}, doi = {10.1016/j.cub.2023.05.064}, author = {Ahmed, Maria and Rajagopalan, Adithya E and Pan, Yijie and Li, Ye and Williams, Donnell L and Pedersen, Erik A and Thakral, Manav and Previero, Angelica and Close, Kari C and Christoforou, Christina P and Cai, Dawen and Turner, Glenn C and Clowney, E Josephine} }