NYSCF Innovator Explores How Behavior Modulates Vision Using Fruit Flies

It is a well known fact that vision modifies behavior; however, behavior can also modify vision. NYSCF – Robertson Neuroscience Investigator Alumnus Dr. Gaby Maimon and his team at The Rockefeller University explored the biophysical underpinnings of how ongoing behavior modulates vision in fruit flies. Using a complex, multifaceted research approach, the scientists illustrate how the fruit flies’ brains can filter out one sensory signal from many similar signals as demonstrated by a set of head movements during flight turns that require the silencing of their gaze-stability reflexes. This research was published in Cell.

Basic research into the function and mechanisms of how behavior changes brain processing, including vision, has vast and important implications on understanding brain function in all animals and humans.

Read the paper in Cell