Flies possess more sophisticated cognitive abilities than previously
known
Immersive virtual reality and real-time brain activity imaging showcase Drosophila's capabilities of attention, working memory and awareness

Date:
February 17, 2022
Source:
University of California - San Diego
Summary:
Common flies feature more advanced cognitive abilities than
previously believed. Using a custom-built immersive virtual reality
arena, neurogenetics and real-time brain activity imaging,
researchers found attention, working memory and conscious
awareness-like capabilities in fruit flies.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== [Fruit fly (stock | Credit: (c) Arif_Vector / stock.adobe.com] Fruit fly
(stock image).

Credit: (c) Arif_Vector / stock.adobe.com [Fruit fly (stock | Credit:
(c) Arif_Vector / stock.adobe.com] Fruit fly (stock image).

Credit: (c) Arif_Vector / stock.adobe.com Close As they annoyingly
buzz around a batch of bananas in our kitchens, fruit flies appear to
have little in common with mammals. But as a model species for science, researchers are discovering increasing similarities between us and the miniscule fruit-loving insects.


==========================================================================
In a new study, researchers at the University of California San Diego's
Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind (KIBM) have found that fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) have more advanced cognitive abilities than previously believed.

Using a custom-built immersive virtual reality environment, neurogenetic manipulations and in vivo real-time brain-activity imaging, the scientists present new evidence Feb. 16 in the journal Nature of the remarkable
links between the cognitive abilities of flies and mammals.

The multi-tiered approach of their investigations found attention,
working memory and conscious awareness-like capabilities in fruit flies, cognitive abilities typically only tested in mammals. The researchers
were able to watch the formation, distractibility and eventual fading
of a memory trace in their tiny brains.

"Despite a lack of obvious anatomical similarity, this research speaks
to our everyday cognitive functioning -- what we pay attention to and
how we do it," said study senior author Ralph Greenspan, a professor in
the UC San Diego Division of Biological Sciences and associate director
of KIBM. "Since all brains evolved from a common ancestor, we can draw correspondences between fly and mammalian brain regions based on molecular characteristics and how we store our memories." To arrive at the heart
of their new findings the researchers created an immersive virtual
reality environment to test the fly's behavior via visual stimulation
and coupled the displayed imagery with an infra-red laser as an averse
heat stimulus. The near 360-degree panoramic arena allowed Drosophila to
flap their wings freely while remaining tethered, and with the virtual
reality constantly updating based on their wing movement (analyzed in
real-time using high-speed machine-vision cameras) it gave the flies
the illusion of flying freely in the world. This gave researchers the
ability to train and test flies for conditioning tasks by allowing the
insect to orient away from an image associated with the negative heat
stimulus and towards a second image not associated with heat.

They tested two variants of conditioning, one in which flies were given
visual stimulation overlapping in time with the heat (delay conditioning),
both ending together, or a second, trace conditioning, by waiting 5 to
20 seconds to deliver the heat after showing and removing the visual stimulation. The intervening time is considered the "trace" interval
during which the fly retains a "trace" of the visual stimulus in its
brain, a feature indicative of attention, working memory and conscious awareness in mammals.

The researchers also imaged the brain to track calcium activity in
real-time using a fluorescent molecule they genetically engineered into
their brain cells. This allowed the researchers to record the formation
and duration of the fly's living memory since they saw the trace blinking
on and off while being held in the fly's short-term (working) memory. They
also found that a distraction introduced during training -- a gentle puff
of air -- made the visual memory fade more quickly, marking the first
time researchers have been able to prove such distractedness in flies and implicating an attentional requirement in memory formation in Drosophila.

"This work demonstrates not only that flies are capable of this higher
form of trace conditioning, and that the learning is distractible just
like in mammals and humans, but the neural activity underlying these attentional and working memory processes in the fly show remarkable
similarity to those in mammals," said Dhruv Grover, a UC San Diego KIBM research faculty member and lead author of the new study. "This work demonstrates that fruit flies could serve as a powerful model for the
study of higher cognitive functions. Simply put, the fly continues to
amaze in how smart it really is." The scientists also identified the
area of the fly's brain where the memory formed and faded -- an area
known as the ellipsoid body of the fly's central complex, a location
that corresponds to the cerebral cortex in the human brain.

Further, the research team discovered that the neurochemical dopamine
is required for such learning and higher cognitive functions. The data
revealed that dopamine reactions increasingly occurred earlier in the
learning process, eventually anticipating the coming heat stimulus.

The researchers are now investigating details of how attention is physiologically encoded in the brain. Grover believes the lessons learned
from this model system are likely to directly inform our understanding of
human cognition strategies and neural disorders that disrupt them, but
also contribute to new engineering approaches that lead to performance breakthroughs in artificial intelligence designs.

The coauthors of the study include Dhruv Grover, Jen-Yung Chen,
Jiayun Xie, Jinfang Li, Jean-Pierre Changeux and Ralph Greenspan (all affiliated with the UC San Diego Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind,
and J.-P. Changeux also a member of the Colle`ge de France).

special promotion Explore the latest scientific research on sleep and
dreams in this free online course from New Scientist -- Sign_up_now_>>> ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
University_of_California_-_San_Diego. Original written by Mario
Aguilera. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Related Multimedia:
* Diagram_and_images_of_virtual_reality_arena_and_flies ========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Dhruv Grover, Jen-Yung Chen, Jiayun Xie, Jinfang Li, Jean-Pierre
Changeux, Ralph J. Greenspan. Differential mechanisms underlie
trace and delay conditioning in Drosophila. Nature, 2022; DOI:
10.1038/s41586-022- 04433-6 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220217141245.htm

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