|
| |
|
|
|
|
||||
| Home Help Feedback Subscriptions Archive Search Table of Contents | ||||
First published online November 24, 2003
Journal of Experimental Biology 207, 113-122 (2004)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2004
doi: 10.1242/jeb.00724
Spatial organization of visuomotor reflexes in Drosophila
1 Bioengineering Graduate Group, University of California, Berkeley, CA
94720, USA
2 Bioengineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125,
USA
Author for correspondence (e-mail:
frye{at}caltech.edu)
Accepted 25 September 2003
In most animals, the visual system plays a central role in locomotor guidance. Here, we examined the functional organization of visuomotor reflexes in the fruit fly, Drosophila, using an electronic flight simulator. Flies exhibit powerful avoidance responses to visual expansion centered laterally. The amplitude of these expansion responses is three times larger than those generated by image rotation. Avoidance of a laterally positioned focus of expansion emerges from an inversion of the optomotor response when motion is restricted to the rear visual hemisphere. Furthermore, motion restricted to rear quarter-fields elicits turning responses that are independent of the direction of image motion about the animal's yaw axis. The spatial heterogeneity of visuomotor responses explains a seemingly peculiar behavior in which flies robustly fixate the contracting pole of a translating flow field.
Key words: fruit fly, Drosophila, optic flow, vision, sensorimotor integration, wing kinematics, optomotor, motor control, LPTC, behavior, flight
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati 
Twitter What's this?
Related articles in JEB:
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  D. M. Chow and M. A. Frye Context-dependent olfactory enhancement of optomotor flight control in Drosophila J. Exp. Biol., August 1, 2008; 211(15): 2478 - 2485. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
M. Mronz and F.-O. Lehmann The free-flight response of Drosophila to motion of the visual environment J. Exp. Biol., July 1, 2008; 211(13): 2026 - 2045. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
B. J. Duistermars, D. M. Chow, M. Condro, and M. A. Frye The spatial, temporal and contrast properties of expansion and rotation flight optomotor responses in Drosophila J. Exp. Biol., September 15, 2007; 210(18): 3218 - 3227. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 N. J. Cowan and E. S. Fortune The Critical Role of Locomotion Mechanics in Decoding Sensory Systems J. Neurosci., January 31, 2007; 27(5): 1123 - 1128. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
J. A. Bender and M. H. Dickinson A comparison of visual and haltere-mediated feedback in the control of body saccades in Drosophila melanogaster J. Exp. Biol., December 1, 2006; 209(23): 4597 - 4606. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
J. A. Bender and M. H. Dickinson Visual stimulation of saccades in magnetically tethered Drosophila J. Exp. Biol., August 15, 2006; 209(16): 3170 - 3182. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
K. Phillips FLYING INTO A HEAD WIND J. Exp. Biol., January 1, 2004; 207(1): 6 - 6. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
M. A. Frye and M. H. Dickinson Motor output reflects the linear superposition of visual and olfactory inputs in Drosophila J. Exp. Biol., January 1, 2004; 207(1): 123 - 131. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
