Fruit flies also know 'think' before acting

"Thinking" fruit flies before they acted, a study by scientists from Oxford University's Center for Neural Circuits and Behavior said. Neuroscientists have shown that fruit flies take longer to make difficult decisions.

In experiments that require fruit flies to distinguish between close concentrations of an odor, the researchers found that they did not function instinctively or impulsively. Instead, they seem to accumulate information before making a choice.

Gathering information before making a decision is seen as a sign of higher intelligence, as shown in primates and humans.

'The freedom of action away from automatic impulses is considered an expression of awareness or intelligence,' said Professor Gero Miesenböck. This new study was conducted in the laboratory of Professor Gero Miesenböck. 'What our studies show is that fruit flies have a surprising neuron that has never been recognized before.'

The researchers also demonstrated that the FoxP gene , which works in a small group of about 200 neurons, is involved in decision making in the brain of fruit flies.

The research team reported the results of this study in Science. The research team is financially supported by the Wellcome Trust, the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, the US National Institutes of Health and Oxford Martin School.

The researchers observed Drosophila fruit flies making a decision between two odor concentrations by letting them smell the smell coming from the ends of a cramped box, trained to avoid a concentration.

When odor concentrations are very different and easily distinguishable, fruit flies make quick decisions and most fly towards the right of the box.

When odor concentrations are very similar and difficult to distinguish, fruit flies take more time to make decisions, and they are more wrong.

The researchers found that mathematical models developed to describe the mechanism of decision making in humans and primates are also consistent with the behavior of fruit flies.

They found fruit flies with mutations in the FoxP gene took longer to make decisions than regular fruit flies when the odors were difficult to distinguish - they became indecisive.

The researchers tracked the activity of the FoxP gene to a small group of about 200 neurons separated from 200,000 neurons in the brain of a fruit fly. This implies that the nerve cells during this accumulation of evidence accumulation are used by the fruit fly before making a decision.

Dr. Shamil DasGupta, the lead author of the study, explains: 'Before a decision is made, brain circuits collect information like a water-absorbing piston. When the accumulated information has increased to a certain level, the decision is activated. When FoxP is defective, or the flow of information into the container decreases to a drip, or the barrel has leaked '.

Fruit flies have a FoxP gene, while humans have four related FoxP genes.Human FoxP1 and Gene FoxP2 gene are involved in language and cognitive development. These genes are also linked to the ability to learn precise movements, such as playing the piano.

'We do not understand why this gene is turned on in various mental processes such as language, decision making and motor learning,' said Professor Miesenböck. However, he surmised: 'A common feature of all these processes is that they reveal over time. FoxP may be important for transmitting ability to produce and process chronological sequences in the brain. '

Professor Miesenböck added: FoxP is not a 'language gene' , a 'decision-making gene' or not a 'time-processing ' gene or 'intelligence gene' . Any such description of the FoxP gene is wrong. What the FoxP gene tells us, is a tool to understand the brain circuits involved in these processes. It has led us to a position in the brain where this position is important in making decisions.