There have been many(though not that many) behavioral experiments on Drosophila. The simplest of these rely on a Pavlovian conditioning involving two stimuli associated with either a positive or negative(or neutral) outcome. This is implemented by a T or Y-maze where each arm of the maze has a particular stimuli and its associated outcome. For an animal to be conditioned in this manner it must possess two crucial cognitive abilities-- associative memory and long term memory. These experiments have been used to study fly models of human diseases such as Alzheimer's. I intend to build a Y-maze to initially replicate some of these classic experiments and then design so new ones and hopefully learn something new. In particular, I am interested in investigating whether flies can count. You read that right. I am talking about a numerical sense in flies. This is not a crazy thing to ask especially when you consider how crucial an ability it is to be able to count and do arithmetic. It is an undeniable selective advantage and may have evolved quite early in evolution. Still not convinced? Check this

2019 paper out by Howard et al . They report that honey bees possess a rudimentary ability to not just count but also do simple arithmetic. Honey bees are small and their brains are even smaller but they perform complicated navigational maneuvers and are social. Fruit flies are in comparison much simpler(and have smaller brains).  Can they perform these same feats?