Owen Randlett, also a postdoc in the Engert and Granato labs, has published his paper “Distributed Plasticity Drives Visual Habituation Learning in Larval Zebrafish” in Current Biology.
Habituation is a simple type of learning yet how and where changes happen to allow this learning is poorly understood. Owen and collaborators investigated how larval zebrafish habituate to dark flashes. Using detailed behavioral analysis they found that habituation for different components of the behavioral response occurs independently and through different molecular mechanisms. This provides further evidence that habituation occurs at multiple points with the circuit, which would allow for greater flexibility and more targeted learning.
Congratulations to Owen and co-authors!