Yoshinori Aso studies the molecular and circuit mechanisms used to store information in parallel memory units in the brain, and how those memories are integrated to guide an organism’s actions. Using the Drosophila mushroom body – a key center for associative learning in insect brains – as a model system, Aso’s team seeks to determine how dopamine neurons produce diverse forms of synaptic plasticity during learning. They also aim to identify neurons downstream of the mushroom body that integrate information from parallel memory units, and then analyze the activity of those neurons in behaving flies. Because the mushroom body operates with evolutionarily conserved molecules and circuit architecture, the team’s work may shed light on how animals compute, learn, and organize behaviors.