Effects of Aging, Potassium Channel, Stimulus Parameters on Visual Habituation in Drosophila melanogaster Using the Light off Jump Response

Habituation, one of the simplest forms of learning, is a basic adaptive process that enables organisms to filter repetitive, irrelevant stimuli. This project investigates the effects of stimulus parameters, aging and potassium channels mutations on visual habituation in white-eyed cn bw mutant Drosophila melanogaster using the jump response, a quantifiable escape behavior mediated by the Giant Fiber System (GFS). Using Generalized Linear Mixed Models (GLMM), we quantified habituation as a significant decline in response across 15 dimming pulses. We confirmed habituation through spontaneous recovery and dishabituation tests. The results produced three findings. Habituation was highly dependent on the interstimulus interval (delay), being strongest at 2 s and undetected at 5 s. Older (30-day-old) flies showed a slower habituation process than younger (10-day-old) flies, confirming that age-related decline affects neural plasticity. Since the basic neural mechanisms for learning to ignore stimuli are believed to be similar across species, the modification of this process in our aging flies helps explain why older humans often find it difficult to focus on a busy environment. Finally, flies carrying mutations in voltage-gated potassium channels, eag Sh; cn bw showed an increased in habituation process compared with cn bw alone. The increase may be attributed to faster short-term synaptic depression caused by hyperexcitability in these mutants.