scholarly journals Aerial course stabilization is impaired in motion-blind flies

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria-Bianca Leonte ◽  
Aljoscha Leonhardt ◽  
Alexander Borst ◽  
Alex S. Mauss
Keyword(s):  
Motion Detection ◽  
Visual Motion ◽  
Flight Performance ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Flight Trajectory ◽  
Free Flight ◽  
Motion Vision ◽  
Circling Behaviour ◽  
Course Control ◽  
Self Motion

AbstractVisual motion detection is among the best understood neuronal computations. One assumed behavioural role is to detect self-motion and to counteract involuntary course deviations, extensively investigated in tethered walking or flying flies. In free flight, however, any deviation from a straight course is signalled by both the visual system as well as by proprioceptive mechanoreceptors called ‘halteres’, which are the equivalent of the vestibular system in vertebrates. Therefore, it is yet unclear to what extent motion vision contributes to course control, or whether straight flight is completely controlled by proprioceptive feedback from the halteres. To answer these questions, we genetically rendered flies motion-blind by blocking their primary motion-sensitive neurons and quantified their free-flight performance. We found that such flies have difficulties maintaining a straight flight trajectory, much like control flies in the dark. By unilateral wing clipping, we generated an asymmetry in propulsory force and tested the ability of flies to compensate for this perturbation. While wild-type flies showed a remarkable level of compensation, motion-blind animals exhibited pronounced circling behaviour. Our results therefore unequivocally demonstrate that motion vision is necessary to fly straight under realistic conditions.

scholarly journals Aerial course stabilization is impaired in motion-blind flies

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria-Bianca Leonte ◽  
Aljoscha Leonhardt ◽  
Alexander Borst ◽  
Alex S. Mauss
Keyword(s):  
Visual Motion ◽  
Flight Performance ◽  
Propulsive Force ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Flight Trajectory ◽  
Free Flight ◽  
Motion Vision ◽  
Circling Behaviour ◽  
Course Control ◽  
Course Changes

Visual motion detection is among the best understood neuronal computations. As extensively investigated in tethered flies, visual motion signals are assumed to be crucial to detect and counteract involuntary course deviations. During free flight, however, course changes are also signalled by other sensory systems. Therefore, it is yet unclear to what extent motion vision contributes to course control. To address this question, we genetically rendered flies motion-blind by blocking their primary motion-sensitive neurons and quantified their free-flight performance. We found that such flies have difficulties maintaining a straight flight trajectory, much like unimpaired flies in the dark. By unilateral wing clipping, we generated an asymmetry in propulsive force and tested the ability of flies to compensate for this perturbation. While wild-type flies showed a remarkable level of compensation, motion-blind animals exhibited pronounced circling behaviour. Our results therefore directly confirm that motion vision is necessary to fly straight under realistic conditions.

scholarly journals The butterfly Papilio xuthus detects visual motion using chromatic contrast

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 20150687 ◽  
Author(s):  
Finlay J. Stewart ◽  
Michiyo Kinoshita ◽  
Kentaro Arikawa
Keyword(s):  
Motion Detection ◽  
Visual Motion ◽  
Luminance Contrast ◽  
Head Movements ◽  
Motion Vision ◽  
Measuring Head ◽  
Chromatic Contrast ◽  
Contrast Polarity ◽  
Papilio Xuthus ◽  
Colour Patterns

Many insects’ motion vision is achromatic and thus dependent on brightness rather than on colour contrast. We investigate whether this is true of the butterfly Papilio xuthus , an animal noted for its complex retinal organization, by measuring head movements of restrained animals in response to moving two-colour patterns. Responses were never eliminated across a range of relative colour intensities, indicating that motion can be detected through chromatic contrast in the absence of luminance contrast. Furthermore, we identify an interaction between colour and contrast polarity in sensitivity to achromatic patterns, suggesting that ON and OFF contrasts are processed by two channels with different spectral sensitivities. We propose a model of the motion detection process in the retina/lamina based on these observations.

Fly motion vision: from optic flow to visual course control

e-Neuroforum ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Borst
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Optic Flow ◽  
Visual Motion ◽  
Neural Circuit ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Motion Vision ◽  
Parallel Motion ◽  
Input Signals ◽  
Course Control ◽  
L1 And L2

AbstractOptic flow-based navigation has been stud­ied extensively in flies, both in tethered as well as in freely flying animals. As neural con­trol elements, the tangential cells of the lobu­la plate seem to play a key role: they are sen­sitive to visual motion, have large receptive fields, and, with their spatial distribution of preferred directions, match the optic flow as elicited during certain types of flight maneu­vers. However, the neural circuit presynaptic to the tangential cells responsible for extract­ing the direction of motion locally has long escaped investigation, due to the small size of the participating neurons. Recent prog­ress was made here by combining genetic si­lencing of candidate neurons with whole-cell patch recording from tangential cells in Dro­sophila. This approach led to the identifica­tion of lamina neurons L1 and L2 providing the input signals to two parallel motion de­tection circuits, specialized for brightness in­crements (L1, ON-pathway) and decrements (L2, OFF-pathway), respectively.

scholarly journals The Right Hemisphere Planum Temporale Supports Enhanced Visual Motion Detection Ability in Deaf People: Evidence from Cortical Thickness

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martha M. Shiell ◽  
François Champoux ◽  
Robert J. Zatorre
Keyword(s):  
Cortical Thickness ◽  
Motion Detection ◽  
Visual Motion ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Deaf People ◽  
Planum Temporale ◽  
Detection Thresholds ◽  
Temporal Area ◽  
The Right ◽  
Visual Motion Detection

After sensory loss, the deprived cortex can reorganize to process information from the remaining modalities, a phenomenon known as cross-modal reorganization. In blind people this cross-modal processing supports compensatory behavioural enhancements in the nondeprived modalities. Deaf people also show some compensatory visual enhancements, but a direct relationship between these abilities and cross-modally reorganized auditory cortex has only been established in an animal model, the congenitally deaf cat, and not in humans. Using T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging, we measured cortical thickness in the planum temporale, Heschl’s gyrus and sulcus, the middle temporal area MT+, and the calcarine sulcus, in early-deaf persons. We tested for a correlation between this measure and visual motion detection thresholds, a visual function where deaf people show enhancements as compared to hearing. We found that the cortical thickness of a region in the right hemisphere planum temporale, typically an auditory region, was greater in deaf individuals with better visual motion detection thresholds. This same region has previously been implicated in functional imaging studies as important for functional reorganization. The structure-behaviour correlation observed here demonstrates this area’s involvement in compensatory vision and indicates an anatomical correlate, increased cortical thickness, of cross-modal plasticity.

How to use body tilt for the simulation of linear self motion

2004 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 375-385 ◽  
Author(s):  
E.L. Groen ◽  
W. Bles
Keyword(s):  
Visual Motion ◽  
Detection Threshold ◽  
Stimulus Frequency ◽  
Flight Simulation ◽  
Body Tilt ◽  
Whole Body ◽  
Motion Percept ◽  
Self Motion ◽  
Rate Limit ◽  
Pitch Tilt

We examined to what extent body tilt may augment the perception of visually simulated linear self acceleration. Fourteen subjects judged visual motion profiles of fore-aft motion at four different frequencies between 0.04âĂŞ0.33 Hz, and at three different acceleration amplitudes (0.44, 0.88 and 1.76 m / s 2 ). Simultaneously, subjects were tilted backward and forward about their pitch axis. The amplitude of pitch tilt was systematically varied. Using a two-alternative-forced-choice paradigm, psychometric curves were calculated in order to determine: 1) the minimum tilt amplitude required to generate a linear self-motion percept in more than 50% of the cases, and 2) the maximum tilt amplitude at which rotation remains sub-threshold in more than 50% of the cases. The results showed that the simulation of linear self motion became more realistic with the application of whole body tilt, as long as the tilt rate remained under the detection threshold of about 3 deg/s. This value is in close agreement with the empirical rate limit commonly used in flight simulation. The minimum required motion cue was inversely proportional to stimulus frequency, and increased with the amplitude of the visual displacement (rather than acceleration). As a consequence, the range of useful tilt stimuli became more critical with increasing stimulus frequency. We conclude that this psychophysical approach reveals valid parameters for motion driving algorithms used in motion base simulators.

scholarly journals Optic Flow: A History

i-Perception ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 204166952110557
Author(s):  
Diederick C. Niehorster
Keyword(s):  
Optic Flow ◽  
Visual Motion ◽  
Scientific Literature ◽  
Archival Research ◽  
Visual World ◽  
Global Pattern ◽  
Self Motion

The concept of optic flow, a global pattern of visual motion that is both caused by and signals self-motion, is canonically ascribed to James Gibson's 1950 book “ The Perception of the Visual World.” There have, however, been several other developments of this concept, chiefly by Gwilym Grindley and Edward Calvert. Based on rarely referenced scientific literature and archival research, this article describes the development of the concept of optic flow by the aforementioned authors and several others. The article furthermore presents the available evidence for interactions between these authors, focusing on whether parts of Gibson's proposal were derived from the work of Grindley or Calvert. While Grindley's work may have made Gibson aware of the geometrical facts of optic flow, Gibson's work is not derivative of Grindley's. It is furthermore shown that Gibson only learned of Calvert's work in 1956, almost a decade after Gibson first published his proposal. In conclusion, the development of the concept of optic flow presents an intriguing example of convergent thought in the progress of science.

scholarly journals How multisensory neurons solve causal inference

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (32) ◽  
pp. e2106235118
Author(s):  
Reuben Rideaux ◽  
Katherine R. Storrs ◽  
Guido Maiello ◽  
Andrew E. Welchman
Keyword(s):  
Motion Estimation ◽  
Causal Inference ◽  
Visual Motion ◽  
Temporal Area ◽  
Medial Superior Temporal ◽  
Electrophysiological Recordings ◽  
Visual Motion Cues ◽  
Integrated Or ◽  
Self Motion ◽  
The Brain

Sitting in a static railway carriage can produce illusory self-motion if the train on an adjoining track moves off. While our visual system registers motion, vestibular signals indicate that we are stationary. The brain is faced with a difficult challenge: is there a single cause of sensations (I am moving) or two causes (I am static, another train is moving)? If a single cause, integrating signals produces a more precise estimate of self-motion, but if not, one cue should be ignored. In many cases, this process of causal inference works without error, but how does the brain achieve it? Electrophysiological recordings show that the macaque medial superior temporal area contains many neurons that encode combinations of vestibular and visual motion cues. Some respond best to vestibular and visual motion in the same direction (“congruent” neurons), while others prefer opposing directions (“opposite” neurons). Congruent neurons could underlie cue integration, but the function of opposite neurons remains a puzzle. Here, we seek to explain this computational arrangement by training a neural network model to solve causal inference for motion estimation. Like biological systems, the model develops congruent and opposite units and recapitulates known behavioral and neurophysiological observations. We show that all units (both congruent and opposite) contribute to motion estimation. Importantly, however, it is the balance between their activity that distinguishes whether visual and vestibular cues should be integrated or separated. This explains the computational purpose of puzzling neural representations and shows how a relatively simple feedforward network can solve causal inference.

scholarly journals Postural responses to specific types of long-term memory during visually induced roll self-motion

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (12) ◽  
pp. e0261266
Author(s):  
Maëlle Tixier ◽  
Stéphane Rousset ◽  
Pierre-Alain Barraud ◽  
Corinne Cian
Keyword(s):  
Visual Motion ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Cognitive Tasks ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Uniform Motion ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Postural Responses ◽  
Background Motion ◽  
Self Motion

A large body of research has shown that visually induced self-motion (vection) and cognitive processing may interfere with each other. The aim of this study was to assess the interactive effects of a visual motion inducing vection (uniform motion in roll) versus a visual motion without vection (non-uniform motion) and long-term memory processing using the characteristics of standing posture (quiet stance). As the level of interference may be related to the nature of the cognitive tasks used, we examined the effect of visual motion on a memory task which requires a spatial process (episodic recollection) versus a memory task which does not require this process (semantic comparisons). Results confirm data of the literature showing that compensatory postural response in the same direction as background motion. Repeatedly watching visual uniform motion or increasing the cognitive load with a memory task did not decrease postural deviations. Finally, participants were differentially controlling their balance according to the memory task but this difference was significant only in the vection condition and in the plane of background motion. Increased sway regularity (decreased entropy) combined with decreased postural stability (increase variance) during vection for the episodic task would indicate an ineffective postural control. The different interference of episodic and semantic memory on posture during visual motion is consistent with the involvement of spatial processes during episodic memory recollection. It can be suggested that spatial disorientation due to visual roll motion preferentially interferes with spatial cognitive tasks, as spatial tasks can draw on resources expended to control posture.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document