RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Cockroach optomotor responses below single photon level
JF The Journal of Experimental Biology
JO J. Exp. Biol.
FD The Company of Biologists Ltd
SP 4262
OP 4268
DO 10.1242/jeb.112425
VO 217
IS 23
A1 Honkanen, Anna
A1 Takalo, Jouni
A1 Heimonen, Kyösti
A1 Vähäsöyrinki, Mikko
A1 Weckström, Matti
YR 2014
UL http://jeb.biologists.org/content/217/23/4262.abstract
AB Reliable vision in dim light depends on the efficient capture of photons. Moreover, visually guided behaviour requires reliable signals from the photoreceptors to generate appropriate motor reactions. Here, we show that at behavioural low-light threshold, cockroach photoreceptors respond to moving gratings with single-photon absorption events known as ‘quantum bumps’ at or below the rate of 0.1 s−1. By performing behavioural experiments and intracellular recordings from photoreceptors under identical stimulus conditions, we demonstrate that continuous modulation of the photoreceptor membrane potential is not necessary to elicit visually guided behaviour. The results indicate that in cockroach motion detection, massive temporal and spatial pooling takes place throughout the eye under dim conditions, involving currently unknown neural processing algorithms. The extremely high night-vision capability of the cockroach visual system provides a roadmap for bio-mimetic imaging design.