Understanding the neurobiology of decision-making: one (fly) step at a time

"While we are still far away from building quantitative models of human thoughts, it is becoming tractable to experimentally dissect the mechanisms of cognitive processes like perceptions and decision-making. In this talk, I will give an overview of our understanding of the neurobiology of decision-making and how a tiny fruit fly could help us to decode the neural mechanisms of this process.

Flies, like humans, take time before committing to a choice and a population of ~200 neurons in the fly's brain influences the decision time. These cells express the transcription factor FoxP, whose human homologues are determinants of cognitive ability. Mutations in the FoxP gene in flies affect decision-making and indicate that a leaky-integration process plays a key role in decision formation."

References:
Shadlen, M.N., and Kiani, R. 2013, Neuron 80, 791-806.
DasGupta, S., Ferreira, C.H., and Miesenboeck, G. 2014, Science 344, 901-904.