Marta A. P. Moita

This study shows male fruit flies exhibit stronger social buffering of freezing responses to threats than females, with neuronal sex identity as the underlying cause.

This study identifies a novel leg muscle activation pattern in freezing Drosophila that prepares the animal for movement and is modulated by external cues.

This study shows that mechanosensory stimulation in Drosophila can trigger sustained motor activity independently of brain centers, revealing a parallel pathway for fast movement initiation.

This study shows that social cues of safety override differences in threat level in Drosophila, reducing individual freezing responses in groups exposed to higher threat.

The paper introduces and validates a novel Food Competition test to assess stable dominance in pair-housed male rats, showing that food consumption asymmetry reliably predicts social hierarchy.

This study shows that threat in fruit flies causes cardiac changes and metabolic shifts that reduce survival, with freezing behavior linked to cardiac deceleration and energy depletion.

This study shows that fruit flies use visual motion cues from group members to determine safety, with specific neurons mediating this behavior.

The paper identifies a neural circuit in rats that processes a natural auditory alarm cue by detecting the cessation of movement-evoked sound.

This study shows that walking speed modulates freeze/flee decisions in Drosophila melanogaster and identifies P9 descending neurons as critical for freezing behavior.