Success in life, for humans and all animals, requires multitasking. Multitasking — the simultaneous execution of two or more behaviors by a single agent — may at times seem effortless and safe, such as walking and talking, or challenging and potentially fatal, such as driving and texting. Performance differences between different multitasking contexts are likely reflected in the cognitive demands of the constituent behaviors, yet the neural substrates that facilitate or constrain multitasking remain unknown. Here I develop a research program to investigate the neurogenetic control of multitasking in the model system Drosophila which has a rich repertoire of complex behaviors, a relatively simple nervous system, and an extensive toolset for precise neurogenetic experimentation.
*Note the retreat is a multi-day event with multiple locations starting at Noon on Friday 9/20