Abstract
All living organisms thrive off the survival choices they make and the factors they prioritize, but the mechanisms guiding these choices remain unclear. This study investigates decision-making in Caenorhabditis elegans, aiming to understand how they navigate dichotomous environments that contain both attractive and aversive cues. Despite possessing a simple nervous system, C. elegans express behaviors indicating a level of advanced sensory-processing abilities, making them ideal models for studying decision-making processes. The experiment consisted of five separate petri-dish tests, each with three sections: side A and side B (containing natural or UV light and/or E.coli or ethanol), and a neutral middle zone. It was hypothesized that when exposed to dichotomous environments containing both attractive and aversive stimuli, C. elegans would exhibit behavioral prioritization by selecting the side offering greater overall benefit to their physiological needs, even when this required exposure to aversive cues. Results revealed that the nematodes in each group moved toward environments supporting long-term wellness, indicating a structured decision-making process based on sensory evaluation rather than random movement. The control group further supported this conclusion, as most worms remained in the middle when no external stimuli were present. Statistical-analysis confirmed the significance of these choices, suggesting that C. elegans are capable of integrating multiple sensory cues to guide their own adaptive behavior. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of how simple organisms can weigh competing stimuli, and can help improve future C. elegans experiments by taking their complex sensory processing and behavioural decision-making capabilities into consideration.
Recommended Citation
Gill, Hunarmeet K.
(2026)
"Exploring Decision-Making in Caenorhabditis elegans: Navigating Dichotomous Envrionmental Cues,"
Caroliniana Undergraduate Research Journal: Vol. 1:
Iss.
1, Article 6.
Available at:
https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/usc-curj/vol1/iss1/6