From Stimulus to Behavioral Decision-Making

The proper detection of stimuli coming from the environment is vital for any organism, in vertebrates as in invertebrates. Animals use different sensory modalities, independently or simultaneously, to detect them, such as audition, vision, olfaction, taste and touch. Indeed, in their ecosystems, animals constantly perceive various sensory signals. These stimuli come either from the environment (light, temperature, humidity, salinity...), or from other organisms (calls, colors, movements, pheromones, allomones, ...).

This Research Topic will collect studies and comments (research articles, reviews, opinions ...), dealing with how animals detect a precise simple or complex sensory signal, confer a value to that signal, and respond to it by devoted and adaptive behaviors. These contributions may want to reply to questions such as: How do specific cells detect environmental stimuli linked to behavior? What are the molecular, cellular pathways leading to an appropriate behavioral response? What are the brain structures engaged in the processing of stimulus/stimuli carrying spontaneous value or acquiring a signal value? What factors are likely to modulate the perception of a given stimulus and behavioral response to that stimulus? This Topic will provide a general overview for the detection of identified stimuli, and the mechanisms that lead to decision-making in animals. It will also highlight the differences and similarities that may exist between vertebrates and invertebrates.