Our decisions, learning experiences and emotions depend on other people, and conversely the patterns in collectives result from interacting individuals. What are the rules of interaction? Which patterns can emerge?


Our aim is to reach a quantitative understanding of individual and collective behavior, including collective coordination, collective decisions and collective intelligence. We approach this problem using a variety of techniques, including behavior, mathematical modelling, machine learning and artificial intelligence, virtual reality, neurobiology, and molecular biology. We chose to implement this approach in zebrafish and humans.

Theory

We are developing new theoretical frameworks to understand collective behavior, including approaches adapting Bayesian Theory, Control Theory or Reinforcement Learning. We apply these approaches to better explain how decision-making, learning or group coordination takes place in groups.

Experiments in Zebrafish and Humans

Our setups include custom-made behavioral arenas for zebrafish, brain imaging in zebrafish, psychophysics and virtual reality for humans and molecular biology.

Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence

We are developing and adapting supervised and unsupervised techniques from machine learning and artificial intelligence for extraction of relevant data in experiments and to quantify individual and collective behavior.

Gonzalo de Polavieja, PhD
Principal Investigator
gonzalo.polavieja@neuro.fchampalimaud.org

Biography

Angel Roman, PhD
Postdoctoral Researcher
angel.roman@neuro.fchampalimaud.org

Antonia Groneberg
2013 INDP PhD Student
antonia.groneberg@neuro.fchampalimaud.org

Cátia Fortunato

catia.fortunato@research.fchampalimaud.org

Fernando Martin-Maroto
Research Scientist
fernando.martinmaroto@neuro.fchampalimaud.org

Francisco Heras, PhD
Postdoctoral Researcher
francisco.heras@neuro.fchampalimaud.org

Francisco Romero
2014 INDP PhD Student
francisco.romero@neuro.fchampalimaud.org

Gabriel Madirolas
External PhD Student
gabriel.madirolas@neuro.fchampalimaud.org

Ines Wichert
Masters Student
ines.wichert@research.fchampalimaud.org

Marta Iglesias
2015 INDP PhD Student
marta.iglesias@neuro.fchampalimaud.org

Nikolaos Antoniadis
Visiting Fellow
nikos.antoniadis@research.fchampalimaud.org

Nuno Ferreira
Software Developer
nuno.ferreira@research.fchampalimaud.org

Renata Cruz
Visiting Fellow
renata.cruz@research.fchampalimaud.org

Tiago Costa
2016 INDP PhD Student
tiago.costa@research.fchampalimaud.org

Victòria Brugada
External PhD Student
victoria.brugada@neuro.fchampalimaud.org

Lab Administration

Lauren Noblet
Lab Administrator
lauren.noblet@research.fchampalimaud.org

Telma Carrilho
Lab Administrator
telma.carrilho@research.fchampalimaud.org

Romero-Ferrero, Francisco; Bergomi, Mattia G.; Hinz, Robert C.; Heras, Francisco J. H.; de Polavieja, Gonzalo G. (2019) idtracker.ai: tracking all individuals in small or large collectives of unmarked animals Nat. Methods (doi:10.1038/s41592-018-0295-5)

Laan, Andres; Iglesias-Julios, Marta; de Polavieja, Gonzalo G. (2018) Zebrafish aggression on the sub-second time scale: evidence for mutual motor coordination and multi-functional attack manoeuvres R. Soc. open sci (doi:10.1098/rsos.180679)

Roman, Angel-Carlos; Vicente-Page, Julian; Perez-Escudero, Alfonso; Carvajal-Gonzalez, Jose M.; Fernandez-Salguero, Pedro M.; de Polavieja, Gonzalo G. (2018) Histone H4 acetylation regulates behavioral inter-individual variability in zebrafish (doi:10.1186/s13059-018-1428-y)

de Polavieja GG; Orger MB (2018) Social Behavior: A Neural Circuit for Social Behavior in Zebrafish Curr. Biol. (doi:10.1016/j.cub.2018.06.065)

Ioannou CC; Madirolas G; Brammer FS; Rapley HA; de Polavieja GG (2018) Adolescents show collective intelligence which can be driven by a geometric mean rule of thumb PLoS ONE (doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0204462)

Laan A; de Polavieja GG (2018) Species diversity rises exponentially with the number of available resources in a multi-trait competition model Proc. Biol. Sci. (doi:10.1098/rspb.2018.1273)

Louis M, de Polavieja G. (2017) Collective Behavior: Social Digging in Drosophila Larvae. Curr. Biol. 27 (18), R1010-R1012. (doi:10.1016/j.cub.2017.08.023)

Juusola M, Dau A, Song Z, Solanki N, Rien D, Jaciuch D, Dongre SA, Blanchard F, de Polavieja GG, Hardie RC, Takalo J (2017) Microsaccadic sampling of moving image information provides Drosophila hyperacute vision eLife (doi:10.7554/eLife.26117)

Laan A, Gil de Sagredo R, de Polavieja GG (2017) Signatures of optimal control in pairs of schooling zebrafish Proc. R. Soc. Lond., B, Biol. Sci. 284 , 1852 (doi:10.1098/rspb.2017.0224)

Orger MB, de Polavieja GG (2017) Zebrafish Behavior: Opportunities and Challenges Annu. Rev. Neurosci. (doi:10.1146/annurev-neuro-071714-033857)

Hinz RC, de Polavieja GG (2017) Ontogeny of collective behavior reveals a simple attraction rule Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 114 (9), 2295-2300. (doi:10.1073/pnas.1616926114)

Alfonso Pérez-Escudero, Gonzalo G de Polavieja (2017) Adversity magnifies the importance of social information in decision-making Proc. Roy. Soc. Interface 14 , 20170748 (doi:10.1098/rsif.2017.0748)

Vicente-Page, J., Pérez-Escudero, A., G. de Polavieja (2017) Dynamic choices are most accurate in small groups J. Theor. Ecol. (doi:10.1007/s12080-017-0349-9)

Romain J.G. Clément, Julián Vicente-Page, Richard P. Mann, Ashley J.W. Ward, Ralf H.J.M. Kurvers, Indar W. Ramnarine, Gonzalo G. de Polavieja, Jens Krause (2017) Collective decision making in guppies: a cross-population comparison study in the wild Behav. Ecol. (doi:doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arx056)

A. Laan. G. Madirolas, GG. de Polavieja (2017) Rescuing Collective Wisdom when the Average Group Opinion Is Wrong Front. Robot. AI (doi:doi.org/10.3389/frobt.2017.00056)

Brugada-Ramentol V, de Polavieja GG, Román ÁC (2016) Toward a Molecular Profile of Self-Representation Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 10 , 602 (doi:10.3389/fnhum.2016.00602)

M. Duteil, E. C. Pope, A. Pérez-Escudero, G. G. de Polavieja, I. Fürtbauer, M. R. Brown, A. J. King (2016) European sea bass show behavioural resilience to near-future ocean acidification R. Soc. open sci (doi:10.1098/rsos.160656)

Gradari S, Pérez-Dómper P, Butler RG, Martínez-Cué C, de Polavieja GG, Trejo JL. (2016) The relationship between behavior acquisition and persistence abilities: Involvement of adult hippocampal neurogenesis. Hippocampus 26 (3), [Epub ahead of print] (doi:10.1002/hipo.22568)

Madirolas G., de Polavieja GG (2015) Improving Collective Estimations Using Resistance to Social Influence PLoS Comput. Biol. 11 (11), e10045941 (doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1004594)

Sumbre G, de Polavieja GG (2014) The world according to zebrafish: how neural circuits generate behavior. Front Neural Circuits 8 (91), EDITORIAL ARTICLE (doi:10.3389/fncir.2014.00091)

Pérez-Escudero A, Vicente-Page J, Hinz RC, Arganda S, de Polavieja GG. (2014) idTracker: tracking individuals in a group by automatic identification of unmarked animals. Nat. Methods 11 (7), 743-8 (doi:10.1038/nmeth.2994)

Rivera-Alba M, Peng H, de Polavieja GG, Chklovskii DB. (2014) Wiring economy can account for cell body placement across species and brain areas Curr. Biol. 24 (3), pR109–R110 (doi:10.1016/j.cub.2013.12.012)

A. Dell, J. A. Bender, K. Branson, I. D. Couzin, G. G. de Polavieja, L. P.J.J. Noldus, A. Pérez-Escudero, P. Perona, A. D. Straw, M. Wikelski, and U. Brose (2014) Automated image-based tracking and its application in ecology Trends Ecol Evol 29 (7), 417–428 (doi:10.1016/j.tree.2014.05.004)

Sorribes A, Thornorsteinsson H, Arnardóttir H, Jóhannesdóttir IÞ, Sigurgeirsson B, de Polavieja GG, Karlsson KÆ. (2013) The ontogeny of sleep–wake cycles in zebrafish: a comparison to humans Front Neural Circuits (7), 178 (doi:10.3389/fncir.2013.00178)

Wu J, Roman AC, Carvajal-Gonzalez JM, Mlodzik M. (2013) Wg and Wnt4 provide long-range directional input to planar cell polarity orientation in Drosophila Nat. Cell Biol. (15), 1045–1055 (doi:10.1038/ncb2806)

Pérez-Escudero A, Miller N, Hartnett AT, Garnier S, Couzin ID, de Polavieja GG. (2013) Estimation models describe well collective decisions among three options Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 10 (37), E3466–E3467 (doi:10.1073/pnas.1309867110)

Pietri T1, Roman AC, Guyon N, Romano SA, Washbourne P, Moens CB, de Polavieja GG, Sumbre G. (2013) The first mecp2-null zebrafish model shows altered motor behaviors Front Neural Circuits (7), 118 (doi:10.3389/fncir.2013.00118)

Arganda S, Pérez-Escudero A, de Polavieja GG. (2012) A common rule for decision making in animal collectives across species. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 220 (9), 3651 (doi:10.1073/pnas.1210664109)

Carvajal-Gonzalez JM, Gravotta D, Mattera R, Diaz F, Perez Bay A, Roman AC, Schreiner RP, Thuenauer R, Bonifacino JS, Rodriguez-Boulan E. (2012) Basolateral sorting of the coxsackie and adenovirus receptor through interaction of a canonical YXXPhi motif with the clathrin adaptors AP-1A and AP-1B. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 9 (10), 3820–3825 (doi:10.1073/pnas.1117949109)

Rivera-Alba M, Vitaladevuni SN, Mishchenko Y, Lu Z, Takemura SY, Scheffer L, Meinertzhagen IA, Chklovskii DB, de Polavieja GG. (2011) Wiring economy and volume exclusion determine neuronal placement in the Drosophila brain. Curr. Biol. 21 (23), 2000-2005 (doi:10.1016/j.cub.2011.10.022)

Pérez-Escudero A, de Polavieja GG. (2011) Collective animal behavior from Bayesian estimation and probability matching. PLoS Comput. Biol. 7 (11), e1002282 (doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002282)

Sorribes A, Armendariz BG, Lopez-Pigozzi D, Murga C, de Polavieja GG. (2011) The Origin of Behavioral Bursts in Decision-Making Circuitry PLoS Comput. Biol. 7 (6), e1002075 (doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002075)

Prieto-Godino LL, de Polavieja GG. (2010) Brain Activity at 70–80 Hz Changes during Olfactory Stimulation Protocols in Drosophila PLoS ONE 5 (9), e12867 (doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0012867)

Pérez-Escudero A, Rivera-Alba M, de Polavieja GG. (2009) Structure of deviations from optimality in biological systems. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 106 (48), 20544–20549 (doi:10.1073/pnas.0905336106)

Arganda S, Guantes R, de Polavieja GG. (2007) Sodium pumps adapt spike bursting to stimulus statistics. Nat. Neurosci. (10), 1467 - 1473 (doi:10.1038/nn1982)