How insects make sense of smells

Overview

Every brain faces the same problem: There is more sensory information than it can process.

A foraging honey bee encounters a constantly changing mixture of floral and background odours carried by the wind. To find food, it must work out which odours come from the same source and which come from different sources. This is an olfactory cocktail-party problem. Small differences in when odours arrive may help the bee solve this problem. The bee also needs selective attention to focus on the odour that matters. By moving its antennae, it controls how it samples odours, while learning and prediction guide what it does next.

I am interested in whether attention, active sensing and prediction are separate processes or parts of one continuous cycle between action and perception.

Possible research questions

• How do insects distinguish odours from the same and different sources?
• When two odours compete, which one does the brain prioritise?
• How does learning influence which odour receives attention?
• Why do bees move their antennae, and are these movements related to learning and attention?

These projects focus on behavioural experiments with honey bees, e.g., proboscis extension reflex conditioning.

MSc projects can combine behavioural experiments with brain recordings using electrophysiology or optophysiology recordings. Students may also develop their own project ideas in insect olfaction, learning and attention.

Application information

I am looking for curious and self-motivated students who are interested in the sense of smell, animal behaviour and neuroscience. Students should enjoy hands-on experimental work. These qualities matter more than grades.

Useful information

• Graduate research at the University of Otago
• Scholarships at the University of Otago