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Cited by 565Neurobiology and Insect Physiology ResearchHuman Pose and Action RecognitionBiomimetic flight and propulsion mechanisms

Mapping the stereotyped behaviour of freely moving fruit flies

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Berman, Gordon J., Choi, Daniel M., Bialek, William, Shaevitz, Joshua W.·2014·Journal of The Royal Society Interface
DOI 10.1098/rsif.2014.0672PMC PMC4233753

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Abstract

A frequent assumption in behavioural science is that most of an animal's activities can be described in terms of a small set of stereotyped motifs. Here, we introduce a method for mapping an animal's actions, relying only upon the underlying structure of postural movement data to organize and classify behaviours. Applying this method to the ground-based behaviour of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster , we find that flies perform stereotyped actions roughly 50% of the time, discovering over 100 distinguishable, stereotyped behavioural states. These include multiple modes of locomotion and grooming. We use the resulting measurements as the basis for identifying subtle sex-specific behavioural differences and revealing the low-dimensional nature of animal motions.

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  • Other studies have shown that the complexity and dimensionality of behaviors can be studied by embedding trajectories in a low-dimensional behavioral space.

    “Other studies [19–22] have shown that the complexity and dimensionality of behaviors can be studied by embedding such trajectories in a low-dimensional “behavioral space.””

    From The Behavioral Space of Zebrafish Locomotion and Its Neural Network Analog (2015) · cites this paper as [19]

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Berman, G. J., Choi, D. M., Bialek, W., & Shaevitz, J. W.
Affiliations
Princeton University (US)
Corresponding author
Shaevitz, Joshua W.
ORCID
Venue
Journal of The Royal Society Interface
Publisher
The Royal Society
Published
2014-10-06
Volume
11
Issue
99
Pages
20140672
ISSN
  • 1742-5662 (ISSN-L)
  • 1742-5689
DOI
10.1098/rsif.2014.0672
PMC
PMC4233753
OpenAlex
W2154723612
Cited by
565
References
6
Citations by year
2026: 47 · 2025: 57 · 2024: 62 · 2023: 72 · 2022: 61 · 2021: 75 · 2020: 51 · 2019: 39 · 2018: 28 · 2017: 34 · 2016: 19 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 4
FWCI
10.98
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Journal of The Royal Society Interface (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • National Science Foundation (0957573, 1066293)
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute
  • Pew Charitable Trusts
  • Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
  • Aspen Center for Physics (1066293, PHY-1066293)
  • National Institutes of Health (GM071508)
  • National Institute of General Medical Sciences (T32GM007388, GM071508, GM098090, R01GM098090, P50GM071508)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurobiology and Insect Physiology Research
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition › Human Pose and Action Recognition
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Aerospace Engineering › Biomimetic flight and propulsion mechanisms
Keywords
stereotypy, Drosophila melanogaster, locomotion modes, grooming, sex differences in behavior, freely moving animals
MeSH terms
Animals, Behavior, Animal, Drosophila melanogaster, Female, Grooming, Locomotion, Male, Sex Characteristics, Stereotyped Behavior, Video Recording

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