scholarly journals A Computational Model of Stereoscopic Prey Capture in Praying Mantises”

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
James O’Keeffe ◽  
Vivek Nityananda ◽  
Jenny Read
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Change ◽  
Prey Capture ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Stimulus Size ◽  
Expected Number ◽  
Single Centre ◽  
Praying Mantis ◽  
Vertical Disparity ◽  
False Match

AbstractWe present a simple model which can account for the stereoscopic sensitivity of praying mantis predatory strikes. The model consists of a single “disparity sensor”: a binocular neuron sensitive to stereoscopic disparity and thus to distance from the animal. The model is based closely on the known behavioural and neurophysiological properties of mantis stereopsis. The monocular inputs to the neuron reflect temporal change and are insensitive to contrast sign, making the sensor insensitive to interocular correlation. The monocular receptive fields have a excitatory centre and inhibitory surround, making them tuned to size. The disparity sensor combines inputs from the two eyes linearly, applies a threshold and then an exponent output nonlinearity. The activity of the sensor represents the model mantis’s instantaneous probability of striking. We integrate this over the stimulus duration to obtain the expected number of strikes in response to moving targets with different stereoscopic distance, size and vertical disparity. We optimised the parameters of the model so as to bring its predictions into agreement with our empirical data on mean strike rate as a function of stimulus size and distance. The model proves capable of reproducing the relatively broad tuning to size and narrow tuning to stereoscopic distance seen in mantis striking behaviour. The model also displays realistic responses to vertical disparity. Most surprisingly, although the model has only a single centre-surround receptive field in each eye, it displays qualitatively the same interaction between size and distance as we observed in real mantids: the preferred size increases as prey distance increases beyond the preferred distance. We show that this occurs because of a stereoscopic “false match” between the leading edge of the stimulus in one eye and its trailing edge in the other; further work will be required to find whether such false matches occur in real mantises. This is the first image-computable model of insect stereopsis, and reproduces key features of both neurophysiology and striking behaviour.

Vertical disparity and binocular vision in the praying mantis

1992 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel Rossel ◽  
Ute Mathis ◽  
Thomas Collett
Keyword(s):  
Binocular Vision ◽  
Prey Capture ◽  
Vertical Component ◽  
Distance Measurements ◽  
Praying Mantis ◽  
Vertical Disparity

AbstractWe have investigated how the binocular control of prey capture in the praying mantis is affected by abnormally large vertical disparities, which were introduced by prisms placed in front of the eyes. The position of a target on the two retinae determines both the magnitude of head saccades made to fixate a target and its perceived distance. Over the wholerange of vertical disparities tested (up to at least 30 deg), the frequency of fixating saccades is normal while the amplitude of their vertical component is a compromise between the saccades specified by each eye individually. Distance measurements are not affected by imposed vertical disparities. But the larger the vertical disparity, the more reluctant the mantid is to strike at the target until disparities exceed 15 deg when no strikes are elicited at all.

The visually controlled prey-capture behaviour of the European mantispid Mantispa styriaca

2000 ◽  
Vol 203 (14) ◽  
pp. 2117-2123 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Kral ◽  
M. Vernik ◽  
D. Devetak
Keyword(s):  
Visual Angle ◽  
Prey Capture ◽  
Critical Value ◽  
Midsagittal Plane ◽  
Praying Mantis ◽  
Binocular Field ◽  
Video Frames ◽  
Field Of Vision ◽  
Left And Right ◽  
Predatory Insects

Mantispids (Mantispa styriaca) are predatory insects; on bright sunny days, they wait in ambush for insect prey. The prey is captured as soon as it is within reach by means of lightning-speed strikes with the powerful forelegs. The strikes can take less than 60 ms. The mantispid accomplishes this almost as effectively as the larger praying mantis, which occupies a similar habitat, even though the praying mantis has apposition eyes with a high-resolution fovea, whereas the mantispid has unspecialized optical superposition eyes. Mantispa styriaca reacts to an item of prey when the latter covers a critical visual angle. The detection of prey immediately triggers adjustment reactions in the mantispid, which attempts to position the prey item in the visual field of both eyes and in the capture zone. Irrespective of the size of the prey, the capture reaction of the mantispid is always triggered if the distance to the prey falls below a certain critical value. As indicated by the analysis of individual video frames, immediately before an aimed strike, the item of prey is always positioned exactly in the centre of the binocular field of vision in the extended midsagittal plane of the mantispid's head. The strike may be triggered by the ommatidia of the left and right eyes, the lines of sight of which converge precisely on this region. The principal conclusion to be drawn is that the prey-capture behaviour of the mantispid appears to be based on a triangulation mechanism.

scholarly journals Motion-in-depth perception and prey capture in the praying mantis Sphodromantis lineola

2019 ◽  
Vol 222 (11) ◽  
pp. jeb198614 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vivek Nityananda ◽  
Coline Joubier ◽  
Jerry Tan ◽  
Ghaith Tarawneh ◽  
Jenny C. A. Read
Keyword(s):  
Depth Perception ◽  
Prey Capture ◽  
Praying Mantis ◽  
Motion In Depth

scholarly journals Response to “An exceptionally preserved 110 million years old praying mantis provides new insights into the predatory behaviour of early mantodeans”

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sydney K. Brannoch ◽  
Gavin J. Svenson
Keyword(s):  
Prey Capture ◽  
Character Evolution ◽  
Predatory Behavior ◽  
Praying Mantis ◽  
Predatory Behaviour ◽  
Extinct Species

Hörnig, Haug, & Haug (2017) published a description of a new specimen of Santanmantis axelrodi MB.I.2068, an extinct species of praying mantis from the Crato Formation of Brazil. According to Hörnig et al. (2017) the discovery of this new specimen brought with it implications for praying mantis character evolution and predatory behavior and it is with these lines of reasoning that we find fault. More specifically, we point to four flawed assumptions in their study that led to their unsubstantiated conclusion that S. axelrodi employed their mesothoracic legs in prey capture.

scholarly journals Parallel channels for motion feature extraction in the pretectum and tectum of larval zebrafish

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kun Wang ◽  
Julian Hinz ◽  
Yue Zhang ◽  
Tod R. Thiele ◽  
Aristides B Arrenberg
Keyword(s):  
Feature Extraction ◽  
Visual Field ◽  
Prey Capture ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Lower Visual Field ◽  
Motion Feature ◽  
Hunting Behaviour ◽  
Sensorimotor Transformations ◽  
Visual Areas ◽  
Tectal Neurons

AbstractNon-cortical visual areas in vertebrate brains extract different stimulus features, such as motion, object size and location, to support behavioural tasks. The optic tectum and pretectum, two primary visual areas, are thought to fulfil complementary biological functions in zebrafish to support prey capture and optomotor stabilisation behaviour. However, the adaptations of these brain areas to behaviourally relevant stimulus statistics are unknown. Here, we used calcium imaging to characterize the receptive fields of 1,926 motion-sensitive neurons in diencephalon and midbrain. We show that many caudal pretectal neurons have large receptive fields (RFs), whereas RFs of tectal neurons are smaller and mostly size-selective. RF centres of large-size RF neurons in the pretectum are predominantly located in the lower visual field, while tectal neurons sample the upper-nasal visual field more densely. This tectal visual field sampling matches the expected prey item locations, suggesting that the tectal magnification of the upper-nasal visual field might be an adaptation to hunting behaviour. Finally, we probed optomotor responsiveness and found that even relatively small stimuli drive optomotor swimming, if presented in the lower-temporal visual field, suggesting that the pretectum preferably samples information from this region on the ground to inform optomotor behaviour. Our characterization of the parallel processing channels for non-cortical motion feature extraction provides a basis for further investigation into the sensorimotor transformations of the zebrafish brain and its adaptations to habitat and lifestyle.

scholarly journals A neural basis for the spatial suppression of visual motion perception

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liu D. Liu ◽  
Ralf M. Haefner ◽  
Christopher C. Pack
Keyword(s):  
Cortical Area ◽  
Visual Motion ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Stimulus Size ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Stimulus Information ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Visual Motion Perception ◽  
Neuronal Populations ◽  
Perceptual Performance

AbstractIn theory, sensory perception should be more accurate when more neurons contribute to the representation of a stimulus. However, psychophysical experiments that use larger stimuli to activate larger pools of neurons sometimes report impoverished perceptual performance. To determine the neural mechanisms underlying these paradoxical findings, we trained monkeys to discriminate the direction of motion of visual stimuli that varied in size across trials, while simultaneously recording from populations of motion-sensitive neurons in cortical area MT. We used the resulting data to constrain a computational model that explained the behavioral data as an interaction of three main mechanisms: noise correlations, which prevented stimulus information from growing with stimulus size; neural surround suppression, which decreased sensitivity for large stimuli; and a read-out strategy that emphasized neurons with receptive fields near the stimulus center. These results suggest that paradoxical percepts reflect tradeoffs between sensitivity and noise in neuronal populations.

Prey capture in the praying mantis Tenodera aridifolia sinensis: coordination of the capture sequence and strike movements

1990 ◽  
Vol 148 (1) ◽  
pp. 147-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. J. Corrette
Keyword(s):  
Prey Capture ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Median Plane ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Capture Zone ◽  
Praying Mantis ◽  
Simple Mechanism ◽  
Movement Sequence ◽  
Visual Behaviour ◽  
Prey Location

Coordination of the complete capture sequence of the praying mantis has been studied in detail using several specially developed photographic techniques. The mantis was able to attack prey throughout a large three-dimensional capture zone by changing body orientation relative to its perch. This orientation centred prey on the median plane and brought it within an attack zone relative to the prothorax. Alignment with the median plane simplifies the attack since the prey can then be localized using only two dimensions. The attack comprised several stereotyped components which together formed a single movement sequence of all six legs. Although too rapid for visual feedback, a simple mechanism permits steering of these movements to capture prey at particular locations within the attack zone. These findings are contrasted with those from studies of mantis visual behaviour and a simple mechanism is suggested for how prey location is encoded to produce steering of the attack.

Simulation of motion on the skin. II. Cutaneous mechanoreceptor coding of the width and texture of bar patterns displaced across the OPTACON

1989 ◽  
Vol 62 (6) ◽  
pp. 1437-1460 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. P. Gardner ◽  
C. I. Palmer
Keyword(s):  
Receptive Field ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Variable Density ◽  
Pacinian Corpuscles ◽  
Single Row ◽  
Simultaneous Activation ◽  
Computer Controlled ◽  
Winner Take All ◽  
Take All

1. These experiments assay the functional significance of receptive-field architecture for information processing. Rapidly adapting (RA) afferents have been previously shown to converge information from clusters of 14-25 Meissner's corpuscles, whereas afferents innervating Pacinian corpuscles (PCs) have only a single, large receptor terminal. We tested two opposing hypotheses of functional architecture: 1) summation models, in which an afferent integrates signals from all of its terminals, showing monotonic increases in activity as a function of contact area, and 2) winner-take-all models, in which the most strongly activated receptor in the cluster dominates axonal output by cancellation of signals from other branches. 2. Bar and stripe patterns have been swept across the finger or palm of the monkey's hand at speeds of 30-120 mm/s with the use of a computer-controlled grid of sequentially activated miniature probes (OPTACON stimulator). The dense packing of OPTACON probes permits placement of up to five groups of stimulators within an individual receptive field, allowing us to activate one or more clusters of Meissner's corpuscles simultaneously and to stimulate the bulbar corpuscle of PC afferents at different orientations through the skin. Integration of information from moving bar patterns has been tested with two protocols. In the variable width protocol, the total number of activated rows in the pattern is varied from one to five, with a constant spacing of 1.2 mm between pulsed rows. In the variable density protocol, the length of skin stimulated is held constant at 5 mm and the spacing of stimuli varied. 3. RA afferents show no evidence of summation of inputs within their receptive fields. Motion of wide bars across the field increases the duration of firing but not the total spikes evoked by each pulse. Responses to the leading edge of wide bars were found to be identical to those evoked by a single-row bar. Simultaneous activation of two to five rows evokes the same or fewer spikes per pulse than the most effective individual row tested alone. When broad-bar patterns are centered over the field, contacting the maximum number of receptors, RAs follow activity in the dominant branch or terminus, suppressing additional inputs. Lack of summation is observed at all pulse frequencies tested (25-100 Hz). 4. Moving bar patterns evoke responses as long as at least one row stimulates the receptive field; broader patterns evoke longer spike trains whose total number of impulses is proportional to bar width.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Tactile detection of a dot on a smooth surface: peripheral neural events

1986 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 1109-1128 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. H. LaMotte ◽  
J. Whitehouse
Keyword(s):  
Smooth Surface ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Nerve Fibers ◽  
Human Detection ◽  
Detection Sensitivity ◽  
Vertical Force ◽  
Sensory Magnitude ◽  
Detection Thresholds ◽  
Micron Diameter

The capacities of humans to detect the presence of a single raised dot of 550 micron diameter on a smooth plate and to judge the magnitude of evoked sensation were determined for dots of different heights, stroked at different velocities across the passive fingerpad. Evoked responses to the same stimuli were recorded from single, slowly adapting (SA), rapidly adapting (RA), and Pacinian (PC) mechanoreceptive peripheral nerve fibers innervating the fingerpad of anesthetized macaque monkeys. When the stroke velocity was 10 mm/s, dot height detection thresholds, as determined from measurements of detection sensitivity were between 1 and 3 microns for all human observers. From fiber recordings in monkeys, the RAs had dot height thresholds of 2-4 microns, i.e., within the range of human detection thresholds. The dot height thresholds were 8 microns or greater for SAs and 21 micron or greater for PCs. In contrast, force thresholds for punctate von Frey filaments did not differ for RAs and SAs and were lowest for PCs. The magnitude of sensation evoked in human increased with increases in dot height above threshold. Similarly, the number of nerve impulses evoked in monkey RAs increased with dot height as did the widths of RA receptive fields. Neither changes in stroke velocity from 10 to 40 mm/s nor changes in vertical force applied by the dot plate to the skin altered sensory magnitude evoked by a 15-microns high dot or the number of impulses evoked in RAs. However, a decrease in stroke velocity from 10 to 1.5 mm/s elevated sensory detection thresholds and, for the 15-microns high dot, decreased sensory magnitude, the number of impulses in RAs, and the widths of RA receptive fields. It was hypothesized that the mechanical event responsible for activating the RA was the lateral deformation of elevated regions of skin. In support of this, the number of impulses evoked in RAs by a dot was greater when the dot was stroked across, as opposed to along, the papillary ridges. Also, under certain stimulus conditions, a correspondence was observed between the occurrence of each action potential in an RA and the passage of the leading edge of the dot across the peak of a papillary ridge. It is concluded that the responses of RAs alone account for the sensory capacity to detect a dot of minimal height on a smooth surface with the fingerpad.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Red-green interactions in the spectral sensitivity of primates as derived from ERG and behavioral data

1991 ◽  
Vol 7 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 75-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harry G. Sperling ◽  
Stephen L. Mills
Keyword(s):  
Intravitreal Injection ◽  
Spectral Sensitivity ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Selective Reduction ◽  
Stimulus Size ◽  
Behavioral Data ◽  
Inhibitory Interaction ◽  
Sensitivity Functions ◽  
Increment Threshold ◽  
Test Light

AbstractDifferent techniques were used to manipulate the inhibitory interaction between the red and green photoreceptors (R and G cones) of rhesus and human primates. The response techniques that were used were the corneal electroretinogram (ERG) and psychophysical increment-threshold spectral sensitivity functions. Red-green opponency, as measured by the depth of the notch at 580 nm, is removed by intravitreal injection of bicuculline but not by strychnine. Therefore, red-green opponency is mediated by GABA and not glycine. The depth of the notch is dependent upon stimulus size. Between 30' and 15' test light diameters, this sign of red-green opponency disappears. Psychophysical increment thresholds are shown to produce the notch while decrements do not and intravitreal APB is shown to reduce the notch, evidence that red-green opponency is carried by the “ON” and not the “OFF” bipolar pathways of the retina. Red and green annuli are shown to selectively reduce red and green inhibition, as though there were selective reduction of the surround response in center-surround organized red-green receptive fields.

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