Making balanced decisions

Dopamine helps animals like the fly Drosophila melanogaster to classify good and bad (symbolized by black and white) in their decisions. Image: Nicolas Gompel Neuronal circuits in the brain 'sense' our inner state - How decisions are made and how behavior is controlled is one of the most important questions in neuroscience. The neurotransmitter dopamine plays a central role in all of this. Scientists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), together with researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology, looked into the role that dopamine plays in the decision-making process and in controlling movement. Animals have an innate preference for certain scents and tastes. Attractive scents are linked to things like good food. Less attractive scents - that of spoiled food, for example - instinctively give the animal a signal which says: "There could be danger here!" When it comes to taste, all animals have similar preferences: Sugars and fats are perceived positively, whereas a bitter taste is perceived rather negatively.