2026-10-06T15:16:12Zhttps://www.radar-service.eu/oai/OAIHandler

10.48606/sb32fkvwj5avwhbr2026-05-09T03:01:05Z

https://dx.doi.org/10.48606/sb32fkvwj5avwhbr Capelle, Maxim Q. Bahl, Armin Larval and juvenile zebrafish behavioral tracking and modeling data in response to temporal and spatial luminance cues – related to Capelle et al. 2026 University of Konstanz 2026 Biology dataset Behavioral tracking and modeling data Dataset Tracking setup and computational modeling Trial info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode Slangewal, Katja Eleftheriadis, Panagiotis E. Animals undergo major behavioral adjustments during ontogeny, but how the underlying cognitive algorithms change during this process remains elusive. Here, we describe that zebrafish shift from light-seeking to dark-seeking, as they grow from larval to juvenile stage, within the first few weeks of their life. We apply a combination of complementary phototaxis assays in virtual reality and modeling to dissect the computational basis of this transition. We identify three parallel pathways, one analyzing ambient whole-field luminance levels, one spatially comparing light levels across the eyes, and one computing eye-specific temporal derivatives. Larvae mostly use the latter two spatio-temporal computations for navigation, while juveniles largely employ the first one. We build a library of agent-based models to predict animal behavior across stimulation conditions and in more complex environments. Model-based extraction of latent cognitive variables points towards potential neural correlates of the observed behavioral inversion and illustrates a novel way to explore the processes of vertebrate ontogeny. We suggest that zebrafish phototaxis is regulated via parallel processing streams, which could be a universal implementation to change strategies depending on developmental stage, context, or internal state, making behavior flexible and goal-oriented. zebrafish phototaxis sensorimotor decision-making virtual environment ontogeny Modeling Slangewal, Katja Eleftheriadis, Panagiotis E. eng 10.1101/2025.06.13.659371 GERMANY (Konstanz) https://ror.org/018mejw64 https://ror.org/00k4n6c32 https://ror.org/018mejw64 https://doi.org/10.13039/501100024848 https://ror.org/01hhn8329 https://ror.org/00dkye506 https://ror.org/05h1kgg64 application/x-tar