scholarly journals Haltere and visual inputs sum linearly to predict wing (but not gaze) motor output in tethered flying Drosophila

2021 ◽  
Vol 288 (1943) ◽  
pp. 20202374
Author(s):  
Michael J. Rauscher ◽  
Jessica L. Fox
Keyword(s):  
Nervous System ◽  
Visual System ◽  
Multisensory Integration ◽  
Sensory System ◽  
Inertial Forces ◽  
Experimental Paradigm ◽  
Linear Superposition ◽  
Visual Inputs ◽  
Direct Head ◽  
Motor Outputs

In the true flies (Diptera), the hind wings have evolved into specialized mechanosensory organs known as halteres, which are sensitive to gyroscopic and other inertial forces. Together with the fly's visual system, the halteres direct head and wing movements through a suite of equilibrium reflexes that are crucial to the fly's ability to maintain stable flight. As in other animals (including humans), this presents challenges to the nervous system as equilibrium reflexes driven by the inertial sensory system must be integrated with those driven by the visual system in order to control an overlapping pool of motor outputs shared between the two of them. Here, we introduce an experimental paradigm for reproducibly altering haltere stroke kinematics and use it to quantify multisensory integration of wing and gaze equilibrium reflexes. We show that multisensory wing-steering responses reflect a linear superposition of haltere-driven and visually driven responses, but that multisensory gaze responses are not well predicted by this framework. These models, based on populations, extend also to the responses of individual flies.

scholarly journals Coherence in nervous system design: the visual system of Pantodon buchholzi

2000 ◽  
Vol 355 (1401) ◽  
pp. 1177-1181 ◽  
Author(s):  
William M. Saidel
Keyword(s):  
Nervous System ◽  
Visual Field ◽  
Visual System ◽  
Optic Tectum ◽  
Sensory System ◽  
Afferent Input ◽  
Physical Constraints ◽  
System A ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
Different Levels

One of the more unusual visual systems of the Actinopterygii is that of Pantodon buchholzi (Osteoglossomorpha: Osteoglossidae). Its adaptations associate neuroanatomy at different levels of the visual system with ecological and behavioural correlates and demonstrate that the visual system of this fish has adapted for simultaneous vision in air and water. The visual field is divided into three distinct areas: for viewing into the water column, into air, and for viewing the aquatic reflection from the underside of the water surface. Cone diameters in different retinal areas correlate with the differing physical constraints in the respective visual field. Retinal differentiation between the aquatic and aerial views is paralleled at different levels of the central nervous system. A diencephalic nucleus receives both direct and indirect (tectal) afferent input from only the aerial visual system and a specific type of cell in the optic tectum is preferentially distributed in the tectum processing aerial inputs. Distinctions within a single sensory system suggest that some behaviours may be organized according to visual field. For Pantodon , feeding is initiated by stimuli seen by the ventral hemiretina so the anatomical specializations may well play an important role as elements in a feeding circuit.

Coding Principles in Adaptation

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 427-449 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison I. Weber ◽  
Kamesh Krishnamurthy ◽  
Adrienne L. Fairhall
Keyword(s):  
Nervous System ◽  
Visual System ◽  
Functional Role ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Sensory Systems ◽  
Spike Frequency Adaptation ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Common Principle

Adaptation is a common principle that recurs throughout the nervous system at all stages of processing. This principle manifests in a variety of phenomena, from spike frequency adaptation, to apparent changes in receptive fields with changes in stimulus statistics, to enhanced responses to unexpected stimuli. The ubiquity of adaptation leads naturally to the question: What purpose do these different types of adaptation serve? A diverse set of theories, often highly overlapping, has been proposed to explain the functional role of adaptive phenomena. In this review, we discuss several of these theoretical frameworks, highlighting relationships among them and clarifying distinctions. We summarize observations of the varied manifestations of adaptation, particularly as they relate to these theoretical frameworks, focusing throughout on the visual system and making connections to other sensory systems.

What's in a name change? Visual prediction makes extrapolation real and functional

2008 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-208
Author(s):  
Beena Khurana
Keyword(s):  
Visual System ◽  
Functional Significance ◽  
Sensory System ◽  
Visual World ◽  
Name Change ◽  
Transmission Delays ◽  
Perceived Reality ◽  
Specific Concept

AbstractNijhawan redraws our attention to the problem of accurately perceiving an ever-changing visual world via a sensory system that has finite and significant communication times. The quandary is compelling and stark, but the suggestion that the visual system can compensate for these transmission delays by extrapolating the present is not so unequivocal. However, in this current airing of contradictory issues, accounts, and findings, Nijhawan trades spatial extrapolation – a rather specific concept introduced earlier (in Nijhawan 1994) for visual prediction – a far more expansive notion that forces the issue of both the perceived reality and functional significance of compensation.

Multisensory Integration

2008 ◽  
Vol 19 (10) ◽  
pp. 989-997 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.E. Lugo ◽  
R. Doti ◽  
Walter Wittich ◽  
Jocelyn Faubert
Keyword(s):  
Nervous System ◽  
Peripheral Nervous System ◽  
Multisensory Integration ◽  
Visual Stimulus ◽  
Lower Leg ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
The Senses ◽  
The Brain

Multisensory integration in humans is thought to be essentially a brain phenomenon, but theories are silent as to the possible involvement of the peripheral nervous system. We provide evidence that this approach is insufficient. We report novel tactile-auditory and tactilevisual interactions in humans, demonstrating that a facilitating sound or visual stimulus that is exactly synchronous with an excitatory tactile signal presented at the lower leg increases the peripheral representation of that excitatory signal. These results demonstrate that during multisensory integration, the brain not only continuously binds information obtained from the senses, but also acts directly on that information by modulating activity at peripheral levels. We also discuss a theoretical framework to explain this novel interaction.

scholarly journals A collective modulatory basis for multisensory integration in C. elegans

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gareth Harris ◽  
Taihong Wu ◽  
Gaia Linfield ◽  
Myung-Kyu Choi ◽  
He Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Nervous System ◽  
Multisensory Integration ◽  
Multisensory Processing ◽  
Neurological Diseases ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Sensory Cues ◽  
C Elegans ◽  
Behavioral Decision ◽  
Integrated Response

AbstractIn the natural environment, animals often encounter multiple sensory cues that are simultaneously present. The nervous system integrates the relevant sensory information to generate behavioral responses that have adaptive values. However, the signal transduction pathways and the molecules that regulate integrated behavioral response to multiple sensory cues are not well defined. Here, we characterize a collective modulatory basis for a behavioral decision in C. elegans when the animal is presented with an attractive food source together with a repulsive odorant. We show that distributed neuronal components in the worm nervous system and several neuromodulators orchestrate the decision-making process, suggesting that various states and contexts may modulate the multisensory integration. Among these modulators, we identify a new function of a conserved TGF-β pathway that regulates the integrated decision by inhibiting the signaling from a set of central neurons. Interestingly, we find that a common set of modulators, including the TGF-β pathway, regulate the integrated response to the pairing of different foods and repellents. Together, our results provide insights into the modulatory signals regulating multisensory integration and reveal potential mechanistic basis for the complex pathology underlying defects in multisensory processing shared by common neurological diseases.Author SummaryThe present study characterizes the modulation of a behavioral decision in C. elegans when the worm is presented with a food lawn that is paired with a repulsive smell. We show that multiple sensory neurons and interneurons play roles in making the decision. We also identify several modulatory molecules that are essential for the integrated decision when the animal faces a choice between the cues of opposing valence. We further show that many of these factors, which often represent different states and contexts, are common for behavioral decisions that integrate sensory information from different types of foods and repellents. Overall, our results reveal a collective molecular and cellular basis for integration of simultaneously present attractive and repulsive cues to fine-tune decision-making.

Genetics of Behavior in C. elegans

2017 ◽  
pp. 150-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Denise S. Walker ◽  
Yee Lian Chew ◽  
William R. Schafer
Keyword(s):  
Nervous System ◽  
Caenorhabditis Elegans ◽  
Molecular Genetics ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Macro Level ◽  
Gene Products ◽  
Individual Gene ◽  
C Elegans ◽  
Behavioral States ◽  
Motor Outputs

The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is among the most intensely studied animals in modern experimental biology. In particular, because of its amenability to classical and molecular genetics, its simple and compact nervous system, and its transparency to optogenetic recording and manipulation, C. elegans has been widely used to investigate how individual gene products act in the context of neuronal circuits to generate behavior. C. elegans is the first and at present the only animal whose neuronal connectome has been characterized at the level of individual neurons and synapses, and the wiring of this connectome shows surprising parallels with the micro- and macro-level structures of larger brains. This chapter reviews our current molecular- and circuit-level understanding of behavior in C. elegans. In particular, we discuss mechanisms underlying the processing of sensory information, the generation of specific motor outputs, and the control of behavioral states.

Neuropathic pain

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Scadding
Keyword(s):  
Nervous System ◽  
Neuropathic Pain ◽  
Sensory System ◽  
Diagnostic Category ◽  
Sensory Loss ◽  
Clinical Feature ◽  
Tissue Destruction ◽  
Spinothalamic Tract ◽  
Protective Function ◽  
Paradoxical Situation

Pain signalled by a normal sensory system, nociceptive pain, serves a vital protective function. The peripheral and central nervous somatosensory systems permit rapid localization and identification of the nature of painful stimuli, prior to appropriate action to minimize or avoid potentially tissue damaging events. A reduction or absence of pain resulting from neurological disease emphasizes the importance of this normal protective function of pain. For example, tissue destruction occurs frequently in peripheral nerve diseases which cause severe sensory loss such as leprosy, and in central disorders such as syringomyelia. Neuropathic pain results from damage to somatosensory pathways and serves no protective function. This chapter provides an overview of neuropathic pain, considering its context, clinical features, pathophysiology, and treatment.In the peripheral nervous system, neuropathic pain is caused by conditions affecting small nerve fibres, and in the central nervous system by lesions of the spinothalamic tract and thalamus, and rarely by subcortical and cortical lesions. The clinical feature common to virtually all conditions leading to the development of neuropathic pain is the perception of pain in an area of sensory impairment, an apparently paradoxical situation. The exception is trigeminal neuralgia.Neuropathic pain is heterogeneous clinically, aetiologically, and pathophysiologically. Within a given diagnostic category, whether defined clinically or aetiologically, there are wide variations in reports of pain by patients. This heterogeneity poses one of the greatest challenges in understanding the mechanisms of neuropathic pain. Knowledge of the pathophysiology is an obvious pre-requisite to the development of effective treatments. The goal of a pathophysiologically based understanding of the symptoms and signs of neuropathic pain is, of course, just such a rational and specific approach to treatment. While this is not yet achievable, clinical-pathophysiological correlations have led to some recent advances in treatment.

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