# Mapping the stereotyped behaviour of freely moving fruit flies

## Author(s): Berman, GJ; Choi, DM; Bialek, William; Shaevitz, Joshua W

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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 organise 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. Publication Date: 6-Oct-2014 Electronic Publication Date: 20-Aug-2014 Citation: Berman, GJ, Choi, DM, Bialek, W, Shaevitz, JW. (2014). Mapping the stereotyped behaviour of freely moving fruit flies. Journal of The Royal Society Interface, 11 (99), 20140672 - 20140672. doi:10.1098/rsif.2014.0672 DOI: doi:10.1098/rsif.2014.0672 ISSN: 1742-5689 EISSN: 1742-5662 Pages: 20140672 - 20140672 Type of Material: Journal Article Journal/Proceeding Title: Journal of The Royal Society Interface Version: Author's manuscript