the dorsal thalamic neurons are 2 steps from retinal ganglion cells and send projections to other important brain regions for social behaviors. ablating dorsal thalamic neurons in zebrafish are specifically tuned to conspecific fish-like motion disrupts social behaviors. No longer have attractive behavior towards other fish like stimuli but behavioral response to other visual stimuli like looming or startling is unaffected.
- connectomic analysis of dorsal thalamic bout preference neurons. visual input then project to other brain regions important for social behaviors
- dorsal thalamic bout preference neurons ablated. attraction is social attraction to fish like motion stimulus. short range repulsion is continuous motion (unaffected by ablation)
what would happen in group of fish with these cells ablated? does shoaling emerge from other contextual cues in a nonvirtual environment?