Murphy’s research focuses on how the brain convert sensory stimuli into meaningful representations, and how these representations drive behavioral responses.
To solve these questions, she focuses primarily on the acoustic communication system of Drosophila. Similar to other animals, flies produce and process patterned sounds during their mating ritual: typically males generate courtship songs via wing vibration, while females arbitrate mating decisions. Sensory processing plays a role not only in detecting and responding to species-specific songs, but also in generating these dynamic acoustic signals.