Wind Direction Coding in the Cockroach Escape Response: Winner Does Not Take All

Levi, Rafael; Camhi, Jeffrey M.

doi:10.1523/jneurosci.20-10-03814.2000

Cited by 28 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…This operation would presumably require the existence of a higher-level decoder to integrate the cumulative spikes; such an integrating decoder could enable the animal to discriminate between 'bulk flow' air movements and air movements caused by approaching objects, and hence to make a binary decision to initiate an appropriately timed escape response. A population vector model has been proposed in cockroaches for the coding of stimulus direction (Liebenthal et al, 1994;Levi and Camhi, 2000a;Levi and Camhi, 2000b). The existence of such a higher-level integrator seems…”

Section: Computing the Airflow Velocitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Responses of cricket cercal interneurons to realistic naturalistic stimuli in the field

Dupuy

Steinmann

Pierre

et al. 2012

Journal of Experimental Biology

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SUMMARYThe ability of the insect cercal system to detect approaching predators has been studied extensively in the laboratory and in the field. Some previous studies have assessed the extent to which sensory noise affects the operational characteristics of the cercal system, but these studies have only been carried out in laboratory settings using white noise stimuli of unrealistic nature. Using a piston mimicking the natural airflow of an approaching predator, we recorded the neural activity through the abdominal connectives from the terminal abdominal ganglion of freely moving wood crickets (Nemobius sylvestris) in a semi-field situation. A cluster analysis of spike amplitudes revealed six clusters, or ʻunitsʼ, corresponding to six different subsets of cercal interneurons. No spontaneous activity was recorded for the units of larger amplitude, reinforcing the idea they correspond to the largest giant interneurons. Many of the cercal units are already activated by background noise, sometimes only weakly, and the approach of a predator is signaled by an increase in their activity, in particular for the larger-amplitude units. A scaling law predicts that the cumulative number of spikes is a function of the velocity of the flow perceived at the rear of the cricket, including a multiplicative factor that increases linearly with piston velocity. We discuss the implications of this finding in terms of how the cricket might infer the imminence and nature of a predatory attack. Supplementary material available online at

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Section: Computing the Airflow Velocitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Responses of cricket cercal interneurons to realistic naturalistic stimuli in the field

Dupuy

Steinmann

Pierre

et al. 2012

Journal of Experimental Biology

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“…In these, direction angle is a "population vector" integrated from activities of multiple neurons (for review, see Grillner et al, 1997;Sparks et al, 1997). These include cockroach escape turns (Ritzmann, 1993;Levi and Camhi, 2000;Comer and Robertson, 2001), leech bending (Lockery and Kristan, 1990;Lewis and Kristan, 1998), primate saccadic eye movements (Lee et al, 1988), and perhaps primate reaching (Georgopoulos et al, 1986). The reason for this difference may lie in a greater need for both spatial and temporal precision in mus- Fig.…”

Section: Encoding Of Direction and Angle Of The Avoidance Turn: Compamentioning

confidence: 99%

Directional Avoidance Turns Encoded by Single Interneurons and Sustained by Multifunctional Serotonergic Cells

Jing

Gillette

2003

J. Neurosci.

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Avoidance turns in the sea slug Pleurobranchaea are responses to noxious stimuli and replace orienting turns to food stimuli after avoidance conditioning or satiation. Avoidance turns proved to be centrally patterned behaviors, the fictive expression of which could be elicited in reduced preparations and the isolated CNS. Activity in one of a bilateral interneuron pair, the A4 cells, was necessary and sufficient to drive the avoidance turn toward the contralateral side. Single A4 cells appeared to encode both turn direction and angle, in contrast to directional behaviors of other animals in which displacement angle is usually encoded by multiple units.The As1-4 cells, bilateral serotonergic cell clusters, excited the prolonged A4 burst during the turn through electrical and chemical coupling. However, during the escape swim, As1-4 became integral elements of the swim motor network, and A4 activity was entrained to the swim rhythm by alternating excitatory-inhibitory inputs, with only weak spiking. This provides a likely mechanism for the previously observed suppression of the avoidance turn by escape swimming. These observations add significant new aspects to the multiplying known functions of As1-4 and their homologs in other molluscs and point to a pivotal role of these neurons in the organization of gastropod behavior.Simple functional models predict (1) the essential actions of inhibitor neurons in the directionality of the turning network motor output and (2) an integrating role for As1-4 in the behavioral switch between turning avoidance and swimming escape, on the basis of their response to increasing stimulus intensity.

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“…Some animals have evolved fast motor circuits devoted to the generation of such behaviors, such as the giant fiber system in flies, the Mauthner cell in fish, or the lateral giant neurons of crayfish (Wyman et al, 1984;Edwards et al, 1999;Korn and Faber, 2005). Although much is known in these and in other systems about how escape behaviors are generated in response to abrupt stimuli such as mechanical disturbances, air puffs, or light flashes (Levi and Camhi, 2000;Fayyazuddin et al, 2006;Bhatt et al, 2007), we still know very little about how escape behaviors are generated in response to objects approaching on a collision course, as may be expected from potential predators (Yamamoto et al, 2003;Preuss et al, 2006;Santer et al, 2006;Oliva et al, 2007;Hammond and O'Shea, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationship between the Phases of Sensory and Motor Activity during a Looming-Evoked Multistage Escape Behavior

Fotowat¹,

Gabbiani²

2007

J. Neurosci.

105

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The firing patterns of visual neurons tracking approaching objects need to be translated into appropriate motor activation sequences to generate escape behaviors. Locusts possess an identified neuron highly sensitive to approaching objects (looming stimuli), thought to play an important role in collision avoidance through its motor projections. To study how the activity of this neuron relates to escape behaviors, we monitored jumps evoked by looming stimuli in freely behaving animals. By comparing electrophysiological and highspeed video recordings, we found that the initial preparatory phase of jumps occurs on average during the rising phase of the firing rate of the looming-sensitive neuron. The coactivation period of leg flexors and extensors, which is used to store the energy required for the jump, coincides with the timing of the peak firing rate of the neuron. The final preparatory phase occurs after the peak and takeoff happens when the firing rate of the looming-sensitive neuron has decayed to Ͻ10% of its peak. Both the initial and the final preparatory phases and takeoff are triggered when the approaching object crosses successive threshold angular sizes on the animal's retina. Our results therefore suggest that distinct phases of the firing patterns of individual sensory neurons may actively contribute to distinct phases of complex, multistage motor behaviors.

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Wind Direction Coding in the Cockroach Escape Response: Winner Does Not Take All

Cited by 28 publications

References 27 publications

Responses of cricket cercal interneurons to realistic naturalistic stimuli in the field

Responses of cricket cercal interneurons to realistic naturalistic stimuli in the field

Directional Avoidance Turns Encoded by Single Interneurons and Sustained by Multifunctional Serotonergic Cells

Relationship between the Phases of Sensory and Motor Activity during a Looming-Evoked Multistage Escape Behavior

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