Larval zebrafish can adapt their swimming behavior in response to changes in the environment in two ways. Firstly, they can adapt their behavior within a single swimming bout in response to unexpected changes in visual feedback they receive upon swimming. Secondly, they can adapt in a long-term manner if changes in feedback are consistent over a long period of time. By combining behavioral experiments with a loss-of-function approach, modelling and whole-brain functional imaging, we show that the first type of adaptation is implemented by a feedback control mechanism that does not involve the cerebellum. However, if changes in the environment are consistent and predictable, they can update a cerebellar internal model. The cerebellum can then recalibrate the feedback controller so that the swimming behavior becomes adequate to the new environmental conditions. Read the full preprint here.
Pre-print on cerebellar function