scholarly journals Mechanisms of selection for the control of action in Drosophila melanogaster

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni Frighetto ◽  
Mauro A. Zordan ◽  
Umberto Castiello ◽  
Aram Megighian
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Neural Circuits ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Central Complex ◽  
Visual Distractor ◽  
Action Mechanisms ◽  
Original Target ◽  
Selection For ◽  
Selection For Action

ABSTRACTIn the last few years several studies have investigated the neural mechanisms underlying spatial orientation in Drosophila melanogaster. Convergent results suggest that this mechanism is associated with specific neural circuits located within the Central Complex (CC). Furthermore such circuits appear to be associated with visual attention, specifically with selective attention processes implicated in the control of action. Our aim was to understand how wild-type flies react to the abrupt appearance of a visual distractor during an ongoing locomotor action. Thus, we adapted the well-known ‘Buridan paradigm’, used to study walking behaviour in flies, so we could specifically address the mechanisms involved in action selection. We found that flies tended to react in one of two ways when confronted with a visual distractor during ongoing locomotion. Flies either: (i) committed to a new path situated midway between the original target and the distractor, consistent with a novelty effect; or (ii) remained on the original trajectory with a slight deviation in direction of the distractor. We believe that these results provide the first indication of how flies react, from the motor point of view, in a bi-stable context requiring the presence of selection-for-action mechanisms. Some considerations on the neural circuits underlying such behavioural responses are advanced.

scholarly journals Action-based attention in Drosophila melanogaster

2019 ◽  
Vol 121 (6) ◽  
pp. 2428-2432 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni Frighetto ◽  
Mauro A. Zordan ◽  
Umberto Castiello ◽  
Aram Megighian
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Visual Target ◽  
Motor Program ◽  
Action Selection ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Fundamental Process ◽  
Directed Action ◽  
Selection For ◽  
First Time ◽  
Selection For Action

The mechanism of action selection is a widely shared fundamental process required by animals to interact with the environment and adapt to it. A key step in this process is the filtering of the “distracting” sensory inputs that may disturb action selection. Because it has been suggested that, in principle, action selection may also be processed by shared circuits in vertebrate and invertebrates, we wondered whether invertebrates show the ability to filter out “distracting” stimuli during a goal-directed action, as seen in vertebrates. In this experiment, action selection was studied in wild-type Drosophila melanogaster by investigating their reaction to the abrupt appearance of a visual distractor during an ongoing locomotor action directed to a visual target. We found that when the distractor was present, flies tended to shift the original trajectory toward it, thus acknowledging its presence, but they did not fully commit to it, suggesting that an inhibition process took place to continue the unfolding of the planned goal-directed action. To some extent flies appeared to take into account and represent motorically the distractor, but they did not engage in a complete change of their initial motor program in favor of the distractor. These results provide interesting insights into the selection-for-action mechanism, in a context requiring action-centered attention, that might have appeared rather early in the course of evolution. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Action selection and maintenance of a goal-directed action require animals to ignore irrelevant “distracting” stimuli that might elicit alternative motor programs. In this study we observed, in Drosophila melanogaster, a top-down mechanism inhibiting the response toward salient stimuli, to accomplish a goal-directed action. These data highlight, for the first time in an invertebrate organism, that the action-based attention shown by higher organisms, such as humans and nonhuman primates, might have an ancestral origin.

Embodied cognition: The interplay between automatic resonance and selection-for-action mechanisms

2009 ◽  
Vol 39 (7) ◽  
pp. 1180-1187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shirley-Ann Rueschemeyer ◽  
Oliver Lindemann ◽  
Michiel van Elk ◽  
Harold Bekkering
Keyword(s):  
Embodied Cognition ◽  
Action Mechanisms ◽  
Selection For ◽  
Selection For Action

LINGUOCULTURAL POTENTIAL OF EUPHEMISMS-AMULETS

2021 ◽  
pp. 68-74
Author(s):  
SERGEY I. ROMANOV ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Target Selection ◽  
Cultural Factors ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Cultural Community ◽  
Magical Power ◽  
Selection For ◽  
Cultural Code ◽  
Russian Linguistic ◽  
Selection Of

The article deals with a special type of euphemisms-amulets, that is, linguocultural units endowed with the function of protection. There are two types of euphemisms-amulets from the point of view of relevance: obsolete and current units. Obsolete euphemisms- amulets have targets that are not recognized as dangerous by the modern linguistic and cultural community. Current euphemisms-amulets, although not always consciously, are used by representatives of the modern Russian linguistic and cultural community to protect against something bad. The paper establishes that the use of the euphemism-amulet is based on the transla- tion of the target's representation into another cultural code. The work reveals that the euphemisms-amulets are directed not to mitigate an unwanted nomination but how to replace it. An undesirable nomination is endowed with negative magical properties, which is why the linguocultural community imposes a ban on its use. A protective cultural function is superim- posed on the euphemism. The main pragmatic explanation for the use of the euphemism- amulet is the speaker's desire not to predict an encounter with an unwanted object, which is based on belief in the magical power of the word. The factors that determine the linguocultural specificity of euphemisms-amulets are revealed. The first factor is target selection. For the Russian linguocultural community, such targets include a totemic animal, evil forces representing another world, death. The second factor is the selection of nominations for the euphemistic function, which is determined by culturally marked background knowledge, ideas, and typical practices. The communicative- pragmatic platform for the use of euphemisms-amulets is the belief in the magical power of the word, in the fact that the use of the forbidden word can lead to negative consequences (in particular, to cause the appearance of something dangerous, undesirable). The work proves that the identified cultural factors are universal, based on universal archetypes: one's own / another's, permission / prohibition, life / death. At the same time, the fact of the appearance of the euphemism-amulet, the choice of its internal form is determined by national and cultural factors.

Selection for Increased Longevity in Drosophila melanogaster: A Reply to Lints

Gerontology ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 69-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Arking ◽  
Steven Buck
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Selection For
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