Identification of Exploration and Exploitation Balance in the Silkmoth Olfactory Search Behavior by Information-Theoretic Modeling.

ABSTRACT: Insects search for and find odor sources as their basic behaviors, such as when looking for food or a mate. This has motivated research to describe how they achieve such behavior under turbulent odor plumes with a small number of neurons. Among different insects, the silk moth has been studied owing to its clear motor response to olfactory input. In past studies, the "programmed behavior" of the silk moth has been modeled as the average duration of a sequence of maneuvers based on the duration of periods without odor hits. However, this model does not fully represent the fine variations in their behavior. In this study, we used silk moth olfactory search trajectories from an experimental virtual reality device. We achieved an accurate input by using optogenetic silk moths that react to blu

SUBMITTER: Hernandez-Reyes CA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7882484 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature