Outcome learning, outcome expectations, and intentionality in Drosophila

An animal generates behavioral actions because of the effects of these actions in the future. Occasionally, the animal may generate an action in response to a certain event or situation. If the outcome of the action is adaptive, the animal may keep this stimulus–response link in its behavioral repertoire, in case the event or situation occurs again. If a responsive action is innate but the outcome happens to be less adaptive than it had been before, the link may be loosened. This adjustment of outcome expectations involves a particular kind of learning, which will be called “outcome learning.” The present article discusses several examples of outcome learning in Drosophila. Learning and memory are intensely studied in flies, but the focus is on classical conditioning. Outcome learning, a particular form of operant learning, is of special significance, because it modulates outcome expectations that are operational components of action selection and intentionality.