Sequential alternation behavior in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster.

Abstract

The intent of this study was to obtain an estimate of the population distribution of alternation behavior (tendency to make the response opposite that just made) in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. Flies were tested in a maze which consisted of series of sequential choice points. Reliable asymmetry in distributions of alternation behavior was demonstrated over rather different apparatus conditions, suggesting the presence of organismic bias in the direction of stereo-typy. A binomial function was fitted to the data to provide a standard against which the results of future genetic manipulations may be compared.