Closing Dewey's Circuit

Wallach, Avner; Marom, Shimon; Ahissar, Ehud

doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-802452-2.00007-x

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 57 publications

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“…Moreover, nowadays it is clear that a purely reductionist approach is insufficient to gain a full understanding of the neuroscience of insects – from molecules, to neurons and synapses, and to behavior. Future experiments may eventually all have to consider the entire environment-perception-action loop (Wallach et al, 2016), including, for instance, how wing movements might implement strategies for active sensing of odor plumes (Koehl, 2006; Li et al, 2018). However, it is an immediate objective for the community to define protocols for more viable and precise spatio-temporal stimulus generation in the lab (e.g., Gorur-Shandilya et al, 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Odor Stimuli: Not Just Chemical Identity

Pannunzi

Nowotny

2019

Front. Physiol.

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In most sensory modalities the underlying physical phenomena are well understood, and stimulus properties can be precisely controlled. In olfaction, the situation is different. The presence of specific chemical compounds in the air (or water) is the root cause for perceived odors, but it remains unknown what organizing principles, equivalent to wavelength for light, determine the dimensions of odor space. Equally important, but less in the spotlight, odor stimuli are also complex with respect to their physical properties, including concentration and time-varying spatio-temporal distribution. We still lack a complete understanding or control over these properties, in either experiments or theory. In this review, we will concentrate on two important aspects of the physical properties of odor stimuli beyond the chemical identity of the odorants: (1) The amplitude of odor stimuli and their temporal dynamics. (2) The spatio-temporal structure of odor plumes in a natural environment. Concerning these issues, we ask the following questions: (1) Given any particular experimental protocol for odor stimulation, do we have a realistic estimate of the odorant concentration in the air, and at the olfactory receptor neurons? Can we control, or at least know, the dynamics of odorant concentration at olfactory receptor neurons? (2) What do we know of the spatio-temporal structure of odor stimuli in a natural environment both from a theoretical and experimental perspective? And how does this change if we consider mixtures of odorants? For both topics, we will briefly summarize the underlying principles of physics and review the experimental and theoretical Neuroscience literature, focusing on the aspects that are relevant to animals’ physiology and behavior. We hope that by bringing the physical principles behind odor plume landscapes to the fore we can contribute to promoting a new generation of experiments and models.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Odor Stimuli: Not Just Chemical Identity

Pannunzi

Nowotny

2019

Front. Physiol.

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A biophysical perspective on the resilience of neuronal excitability across timescales

Marom,

Marder

2023

Nat. Rev. Neurosci.

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Predictive whisker kinematics reveal context-dependent sensorimotor strategies

Wallach

Deutsch

Oram

et al. 2019

Preprint

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10Animals actively move their sensory organs in order to acquire sensory information. Some rodents, such 11 as mice and rats, employ cyclic scanning motions of their facial whiskers to explore their proximal 12surrounding, a behavior known as whisking. Here we investigated the contingency of whisking kinematics 13 on the animal's behavioral context that arises from both internal processes (attention and expectations) 14and external constraints (available sensory and motor degrees of freedom). We recorded rat whisking at 15 high temporal resolution in two experimental contexts -freely moving or head-fixed -and two spatial 16 sensory configurations -a single row or three caudal whiskers on each side of the snout. We found that 17 rapid sensorimotor twitches, called pumps, occurring during free-air whisking carry information about the 18 rat's upcoming exploratory direction, as demonstrated by the ability of these pumps to predict 19 consequent head and body locomotion. Specifically, pump behavior during both voluntary motionlessness 20 and imposed head-fixation exposed a backward redistribution of sensorimotor exploratory resources. 21Further, head-fixed rats employed a wide range of whisking profiles to compensate for the loss of head-22and body-motor degrees of freedom. Finally, changing the number of intact vibrissae available to a rat 23 resulted in an alteration of whisking strategy consistent with the rat actively reallocating its remaining 24 resources. In sum, this work shows that rats adapt their active exploratory behavior in a "homeostatic" 25 attempt to preserve sensorimotor coverage under changing environmental conditions and changing 26 sensory capacities, including those imposed by various laboratory conditions. 27 28

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Closing Dewey's Circuit

Cited by 4 publications

References 57 publications

Odor Stimuli: Not Just Chemical Identity

Odor Stimuli: Not Just Chemical Identity

A biophysical perspective on the resilience of neuronal excitability across timescales

Predictive whisker kinematics reveal context-dependent sensorimotor strategies

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