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Movement discrimination by the visual system of flies

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Summary

  1. 1.

    A glass microelectrode was inserted into the optic lobes of fleshflies (Boettcherisca peregrina) and discharges responding to the movement of a spot of light were recorded.

  2. 2.

    Units responding to moving spot were classified into four types: non-directional, one directional, semi-integrative and integrative types. In addition, there was an “alerting” unit which discharged phasically to movement of a spot in any direction and adapted quickly, and an “inhibitory” unit in which discharges were inhibited by movement of a spot in any direction although a preferred direction was seen slightly.

  3. 3.

    Units of the non-directional type with relatively narrow receptive fields were found in the medulla only, while those with wide fields were in the lobula and the pathway to the central brain.

  4. 4.

    Units of the one directional type, which discharge to a preferred direction, were found in the region of the medulla to the lobula regardless of the size of the receptive field.

  5. 5.

    Units of the semi-integrative type, which possess a receptive field apparently formed by the combination of two or more fields of the one directional type and sometimes discharge dominantly to vertical movement at the front along the head axis, were found in all regions of the medulla to such central parts as the optic peduncle.

  6. 6.

    Units of the integrative type, which respond to such complex, but continuous movement as a circular motion of objects, were found in the central region from the lobula to the pathways to the brain.

  7. 7.

    Four types of relationships were found between the speed of the moving spot and the discharge rate: a, the discharge rate increased proportionally to the logarithm of the increase of the speed; b, the discharge rate was not altered by the speed changes; c, the discharge rate became maximal at a particular speed; d, the discharge rate was decreased or inhibited with increase of the speed.

    Type a was mainly seen in units of the one directional type with a wide receptive field and in units of the semi-integrative type, and was distributed over the region from the medulla to the lobula. Type b was found in units of the non-directional type with a narrow receptive field, and was situated in the medulla only. Type c was related with units of the directional and integrative types, and located in the central region of the optic lobes. Type d, seen in only few number, was found in the pathway to the central brain.

  8. 8.

    Orderly arrangement of the units, which suggests a neural mechanism for directional selectivity, was electrophysiologically observed.

  9. 9.

    It is concluded that the analytical processing of the direction and speed of movement is conducted in the region of the medulla to the lobula, and that the neural integration is performed in the central part of the optic lobes, the lobula and the pathway to the central brain.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Liberal Arts, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan

    Keiichi Mimura

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  1. Keiichi Mimura
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Additional information

I wish to express my appreciation to Prof. M. Kuwabara and Dr. H. Tateda (Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Kyushu University) for their support and encouragement in this work. Thanks are due to Drs. Y. Toh and H. Kondo of the same Department for their help in breeding the fly. I am grateful to the above mentioned Department and also to the Department of Physiology, Nagasaki University School of Medicine (Prof. K. Sato) for their help in the histological procedures.

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Mimura, K. Movement discrimination by the visual system of flies. Z. Vergl. Physiol. 73, 105–138 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00304129

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