MIT neuroscientists have discovered the elegant architecture of a fundamental decision-making brain circuit that allows a C. elegans worm to either forage for food or stop to feast when it finds a source. Capable of integrating multiple streams of sensory information, the circuit employs just a few key neurons to sustain long-lasting behaviors, and yet flexibly switch between them as environmental conditions warrant.
“For a foraging worm, the decision to roam or to dwell is one that will strongly impact its survival.” said study senior author Steven Flavell, Lister Brothers Career Development Associate Professor in The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory and Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT. “We thought that studying how the brain controls this crucial decision-making process could uncover fundamental circuit elements that may be deployed in many animals’ brains.”
