Summary
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1.
Response properties of different temporal response components such as ON, OFF, tonic or phasic of visual interneurons of the honeybee in the lateral protocerebrum and the proximal lobula were examined by means of intracellular recordings. These neurons were tested with homochromatic flicker light (monochromatic light was flickered against darkness, f=0.5 Hz) and heterochromatic flicker light (two monochromatic lights were flickered against each other, f=0.5 Hz).
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2.
The results show that successive chromatic information can be coded only in the same response component, especially in the tonic component (Figs. 1 B and 3).
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3.
In color opponent neurons, the color-specific properties lie in different response components. They are possibly involved in the coding of the successive color contrast, but they cannot differentiate between two monochromatic lights in the heterochromatic flicker test (Fig. 7).
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4.
Different thresholds for broad-banded and color-specific reaction components can lead to an intensity-dependent separation of color- and intensity-coding (Fig. 5).
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5.
Reaction thresholds can be changed by heterochromatic flicker light (Fig. 7 A), the response components can be enhanced (Fig. 1), or a new component can appear (Fig. 7 B).
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I thank Prof. Randolf Menzel for support in carrying out this work. I am grateful to Horst Hertel and Nick Strausfeld for helpful discussions, as well as their suggestions regarding the English text.
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Riehle, A. Color opponent neurons of the honeybee in a heterochromatic flicker test. J. Comp. Physiol. 142, 81–88 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00605479
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00605479