Sensorimotor Mechanisms and Learning in the Locust Flight System

Abstract

Flying locusts control their stability by means of an inborn ‘autopilot’ mechanism. With increasing flight experience, however, the neural control circuit for correcting disturbances is individually tuned for optimum performance. During this tuning the most efficient muscles for adjusting the yaw angle are found and recruited for improved performance. Proprioceptive feedback from the activity of the flight muscles is necessary for this motor learning. A simple model is suggested, explaining how such tuning function could be implemented by neural elements. A particular aspect of the tuning ability is the apparent strategy of the flight system to reduce the amount of feedback error messages during flight control. This idea is discussed with respect to the concept of prerational intelligence.