Abstract
The co-ordination of the walking behaviour of decerebrate stick insects is examined and compared with normal behaviour. The walks are fully coordinated but undergo subtle changes in timing, have a longer average step period and show momentary pauses of 50 ms during the time course of protraction movements. In addition a new intersegmental reflex has been discovered. This tactile reflex is used to avoid errors in co-ordination that would be produced by posterior legs stepping onto the tarsi of the legs in front. The reflex has a latency of 100 ms and is easily observed in lesioned animals but is also active, although seldom seen, in slowly walking intact animals.
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Graham, D. Effects of circum-oesophageal lesion on the behaviour of the stick insect Carausius morosus . Biol. Cybernetics 32, 147–152 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00337391
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00337391