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Resonant neurons and bushcricket behaviour

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Abstract

The resonant properties of the intrinsic dynamics of single neurons could play a direct role in behaviour. One plausible role is in the recognition of temporal patterns, such as that seen in the auditory communication systems of Orthoptera. Recent behavioural data from bushcrickets suggests that this behaviour has interesting resonance properties, but the underlying mechanism is unknown. Here we show that a very simple and general model for neural resonance could directly account for the different behavioural responses of bushcrickets to different song patterns.

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Acknowledgments

This work was carried out while B.Webb was a visiting professor at EPFL, Lausanne. Jan Wessnitzer is supported by the EC Sixth Framework SPARK project. Jonas Buchli and Auke Ijspeert are supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Perception, Action and Behaviour, School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

    Barbara Webb & Jan Wessnitzer

  2. Division of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA

    Sarah Bush & Johannes Schul

  3. Biologically Inspired Robotics Group (BIRG), School of Computer and Communication Sciences, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Jonas Buchli & Auke Ijspeert

  4. JCMB King’s Buildings, Mayfield Rd, Edinburgh, UK

    Barbara Webb

Authors
  1. Barbara Webb
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  2. Jan Wessnitzer
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  3. Sarah Bush
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  4. Johannes Schul
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  5. Jonas Buchli
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  6. Auke Ijspeert
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Barbara Webb.

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Webb, B., Wessnitzer, J., Bush, S. et al. Resonant neurons and bushcricket behaviour. J Comp Physiol A 193, 285–288 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-006-0199-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-006-0199-1

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