Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem report that a coordinated pattern of brain activity emerges several seconds before zebrafish swim toward another fish, and that the strength of the signal is linked to individual differences in sociability.
Researchers studying zebrafish have identified a brain-wide pattern of neural activity that appears seconds before a fish swims toward another fish, suggesting that the nervous system begins preparing for social interaction before movement becomes visible.
The work was led by Dr. Lilah Avitan at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and carried out by PhD student Imri Lifshitz with other members of Avitan’s laboratory, according to a university news release carried by ScienceDaily.
In the experiments, the team used a system that allowed one fish to watch and respond to another fish swimming nearby while researchers recorded activity across the observer fish’s brain in real time. The researchers reported that, ahead of approach behavior, activity rose in neurons in the pallium while activity decreased in other brain areas, forming what they described as a neural “pre-decision state.”
The researchers said the distributed activity pattern could be used to predict whether an approach movement was about to occur. They also reported that the strength of the neural signature varied across individuals: fish with a stronger signal tended to be more social overall.
"This study identifies a brain-wide neural signature of social approach that emerges before movement begins," Avitan said. "This signature predicts not only whether an upcoming action will be social, but also how strongly socially driven the individual is."
The study, titled “Distinct distributed neural dynamics predict pallium-dependent social approach,” was published in Nature Communications on April 9, 2026.
