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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 20: Poster IIIa

BP 20.33: Poster

Wednesday, March 20, 2024, 11:00–14:30, Poster B

Mechanics of decision-making in light-trapped slime mold — •Lisa Schick, Emily Eichenlaub, Fabian Drexel, Siyu Chen, and Karen Alim — School of Natural Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Germany

The human brain continuously makes conscious and unconscious decisions to navigate everyday life’s complexity. Lacking a central nervous system, complex behavior and remarkable decision-making abilities have been reported for non-neuronal organisms like unicellular slime molds. Yet, decision-making is solely described as a response to processed information of the environment and focusing on the outcome rather than the decision-making process. We, here, trap the unicellular slime mold Physarum polycephalum in blue light shapes and follow its decision-making process to find an escape route. We find that decision-making is established by a dynamic adaptation of the flow pattern inside the tubular structure of the organism inducing a pressure buildup for overall mass reallocation.

Keywords: Decision-making; Fluid dynamics; Slime mold