Tom Hindmarsh Sten

Abstract Males of many species have evolved behavioral traits to both attract females and repel rivals. Here, we explore mate selection in Drosophila from both the male and female perspective to shed light on how these key components of sexual selection — female choice and male-male competition — work in concert to guide reproductive strategies.

Abstract Long-lasting internal arousal states motivate and pattern ongoing behaviour, enabling the temporary emergence of innate behavioural programs that serve the needs of an animal, such as fighting, feeding, and mating. However, how internal states shape sensory processing or behaviour remains unclear.

Abstract Performance on cognitive tasks during learning is used to measure knowledge, yet it remains controversial since such testing is susceptible to contextual factors. To what extent does performance during learning depend on the testing context, rather than underlying knowledge? We trained mice, rats and ferrets on a range of tasks to examine how testing context impacts the acquisition of knowledge versus its expression.