Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Nov 10, 2025

Assaying Locomotor Activity to Study Circadian Rhythms and Sleep Parameters in Drosophila

Assaying Locomotor Activity to Study Circadian Rhythms and Sleep Parameters in Drosophila

Published on: September 28, 2010

Drosophila acquires seconds-scale rhythmic behavior.

Masayoshi Ikarashi¹, Hiromu Tanimoto¹

¹Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University, 2-1-1 Katahira, Aoba-Ku, Sendai, 980-8577, Japan.

The Journal of Experimental Biology

|April 2, 2021

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Profiling presynaptic scaffolds using split-GFP reconstitution reveals cell-type-specific spatial configurations in the fly brain.

eLife·2026

Same author

Disruption of a selective vesicle pool upon retrograde amnesia dissociates memory at presynaptic terminals.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026

Same author

Octopamine signaling regulates the intracellular pattern of the presynaptic active zone scaffold within Drosophila mushroom body neurons.

PLoS biology·2025

Same author

Synaptic enrichment and dynamic regulation of the two opposing dopamine receptors within the same neurons.

eLife·2025

Same author

A high-protein diet-responsive gut hormone regulates behavioral and metabolic optimization in Drosophila melanogaster.

Nature communications·2024

Same author

Translational regulation enhances distinction of cell types in the nervous system.

eLife·2024

Same journal

Interaction between dynamic reinforcement learning and working memory of pigeon: A comparative modeling study.

The Journal of experimental biology·2026

Same journal

Differential responses to photoperiod in juveniles of two migratory songbird species.

The Journal of experimental biology·2026

Same journal

A Drosophila overgrowth model reveals extracellular matrix crosslinking limits cardiovascular scaling.

The Journal of experimental biology·2026

Same journal

Control of High-speed Jumps: Removing rotation from the jumps of locusts (Schistocerca gregaria).

The Journal of experimental biology·2026

Same journal

Limits and mechanisms of honey bee colonial thermoregulation in the heat.

The Journal of experimental biology·2026

Same journal

Correction: Sprinting performance is linked to surface activity in scorpions.

The Journal of experimental biology·2026

See all related articles

Fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) can learn rhythmic behaviors in the seconds range. Aging impairs this interval timing ability, mirroring declines seen in mammals.

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Animal Behavior
Chronobiology

Background:

Temporal structure detection is vital for prediction and behavioral adaptation.
Interval timing perception is understudied, particularly in invertebrates like fruit flies.
Understanding insect temporal processing offers insights into conserved biological mechanisms.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) can acquire rhythmic behaviors in the seconds range.
To explore the effects of aging on interval timing in insects.
To establish a novel temporal conditioning paradigm for studying insect timing.

Main Methods:

Developed a novel temporal conditioning paradigm using electric shocks.
Employed automatic behavioral annotation for precise data collection.

Keywords:

Interval timing Learning Temporal conditioning

More Related Videos

Circadian Entrainment of Drosophila Melanogaster

Circadian Entrainment of Drosophila Melanogaster

Published on: June 3, 2020

Operant Learning of Drosophila at the Torque Meter

Operant Learning of Drosophila at the Torque Meter

Published on: June 16, 2008

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Nov 10, 2025

Assaying Locomotor Activity to Study Circadian Rhythms and Sleep Parameters in Drosophila

Assaying Locomotor Activity to Study Circadian Rhythms and Sleep Parameters in Drosophila

Published on: September 28, 2010

Circadian Entrainment of Drosophila Melanogaster

Circadian Entrainment of Drosophila Melanogaster

Published on: June 3, 2020

Operant Learning of Drosophila at the Torque Meter

Operant Learning of Drosophila at the Torque Meter

Published on: June 16, 2008

Utilized time-frequency analysis to identify rhythmic patterns in behavior.

Main Results:

Fruit flies demonstrated the ability to acquire and maintain behavioral rhythms after shock cessation.
Aging was found to significantly impair interval timing capabilities in Drosophila.
The study established a reliable method for assessing temporal learning in insects.

Conclusions:

Insects, specifically fruit flies, possess the capacity for acquiring behavioral rhythms within the seconds timescale.
Interval timing shows a decline with age in fruit flies, a phenomenon also observed in mammals.
This research provides a foundation for further studies into the neurobiology of temporal processing in invertebrates.