Bilateral flight muscle activity predicts wing kinematics and 3-dimensional body orientation of locusts responding to looming objects

Three-dimensional shape and velocity changes affect responses of a locust visual interneuron to approaching objects

Adaptive collision avoidance behaviours require accurate detection of complex spatiotemporal properties of an object approaching in an animal's natural, three-dimensional environment. Within the locust, the lobula giant movement detector and its postsynaptic partner, the descending contralateral movement detector (DCMD), respond robustly to images that emulate an approaching two-dimensional object and exhibit firing rate modulation correlated with changes in object trajectory. It is not known how this pathway responds to visual expansion of a three-dimensional object or an approaching object that changes velocity, both of which represent natural stimuli. We compared DCMD responses with images that emulate the approach of a sphere with those elicited by a two-dimensional disc. A sphere evoked later peak firing and decreased sensitivity to the ratio of the half size of the object to the approach velocity, resulting in an increased threshold subtense angle required to generate peak firing. We also presented locusts with an approaching sphere that decreased or increased in velocity. A velocity decrease resulted in transition-associated peak firing followed by a firing rate increase that resembled the response to a constant, slower velocity. A velocity increase resulted in an earlier increase in the firing rate that was more pronounced with an earlier transition. These results further demonstrate that this pathway can provide motor circuits for behaviour with salient information about complex stimulus dynamics.

Complex object motion represented by context-dependent correlated activity of visual interneurones

Accurate and adaptive encoding of complex, dynamic visual information is critical for the survival of many animals. Studies across a range of taxa have investigated behavioral and neuronal responses to objects that represent a threat, such as a looming object approaching along a direct collision course. By investigating neural mechanisms of avoidance behaviors through recording multineuronal activity, it is possible to better understand how complex visual information is represented in circuits that ultimately drive behaviors. We used multichannel electrodes to record from the well-studied locust nervous system to explore how object motion is reflected in activity of correlated neural activity. We presented locusts (Locusta migratoria) with objects that moved along one of 11 unique trajectories and recorded from descending interneurons within the ventral nerve cord. Spike sorting resulted in 405 discriminated units across 20 locusts and we found that 75% of the units responded to some form of object motion. Dimensionality reduction through principal component (PCA) and dynamic factor (DFA) analyses revealed population vector responses within individuals and common firing trends across the pool of discriminated units, respectively. Population vector composition (PCA) varied with the stimulus and common trends (DFA) showed unique tuning related to changes in the visual size and trajectory of the object through time. These findings demonstrate that this well-described collision detection system is more complex than previously envisioned and will drive future experiments to explore fundamental principles of how visual information is processed through context-dependent dynamic ensembles of neurons to initiate and control complex behavior.

A sublethal dose of a neonicotinoid insecticide disrupts visual processing and collision avoidance behaviour in Locusta migratoria

Neonicotinoids are known to affect insect navigation and vision, however the mechanisms of these effects are not fully understood. A visual motion sensitive neuron in the locust, the Descending Contralateral Movement Detector (DCMD), integrates visual information and is involved in eliciting escape behaviours. The DCMD receives coded input from the compound eyes and monosynaptically excites motorneurons involved in flight and jumping. We show that imidacloprid (IMD) impairs neural responses to visual stimuli at sublethal concentrations, and these effects are sustained two and twenty-four hours after treatment. Most significantly, IMD disrupted bursting, a coding property important for motion detection. Specifically, IMD reduced the DCMD peak firing rate within bursts at ecologically relevant doses of 10 ng/g (ng IMD per g locust body weight). Effects on DCMD firing translate to deficits in collision avoidance behaviours: exposure to 10 ng/g IMD attenuates escape manoeuvers while 100 ng/g IMD prevents the ability to fly and walk. We show that, at ecologically-relevant doses, IMD causes significant and lasting impairment of an important pathway involved with visual sensory coding and escape behaviours. These results show, for the first time, that a neonicotinoid pesticide directly impairs an important, taxonomically conserved, motion-sensitive visual network.

Background visual motion affects responses of an insect motion-sensitive neuron to objects deviating from a collision course

Stimulus complexity affects the response of looming sensitive neurons in a variety of animal taxa. The Lobula Giant Movement Detector/Descending Contralateral Movement Detector (LGMD/DCMD) pathway is well-characterized in the locust visual system. It responds to simple objects approaching on a direct collision course (i.e., looming) as well as complex motion defined by changes in stimulus velocity, trajectory, and transitions, all of which are affected by the presence or absence of background visual motion. In this study, we focused on DCMD responses to objects transitioning away from a collision course, which emulates a successful locust avoidance behavior. We presented each of 20 locusts with a sequence of complex three-dimensional visual stimuli in simple, scattered, and progressive flow field backgrounds while simultaneously recording DCMD activity extracellularly. DCMD responses to looming stimuli were generally characteristic irrespective of stimulus background. However, changing background complexity affected, peak firing rates, peak time, and caused changes in peak rise and fall phases. The DCMD response to complex object motion also varied with the azimuthal approach angle and the dynamics of object edge expansion. These data fit with an existing correlational model that relates expansion properties to firing rate modulation during trajectory changes.

Burst Firing in a Motion-Sensitive Neural Pathway Correlates with Expansion Properties of Looming Objects that Evoke Avoidance Behaviors

The locust visual system contains a well-defined motion-sensitive pathway that transfers visual input to motor centers involved in predator evasion and collision avoidance. One interneuron in this pathway, the descending contralateral movement detector (DCMD), is typically described as using rate coding; edge expansion of approaching objects causes an increased rate of neuronal firing that peaks after a certain retinal threshold angle is exceeded. However, evidence of intrinsic DCMD bursting properties combined with observable oscillations in mean firing rates and tight clustering of spikes in raw traces, suggest that bursting may be important for motion detection. Sensory neuron bursting provides important timing information about dynamic stimuli in many model systems, yet no studies have rigorously investigated if bursting occurs in the locust DCMD during object approach. We presented repetitions of 30 looming stimuli known to generate behavioral responses to each of 20 locusts in order to identify and quantify putative bursting activity in the DCMD. Overall, we found a bimodal distribution of inter-spike intervals (ISI) with peaks of more frequent and shorter ISIs occurring from 1–8 ms and longer less frequent ISIs occurring from 40–50 ms. Subsequent analysis identified bursts and isolated single spikes from the responses. Bursting frequency increased in the latter phase of an approach and peaked at the time of collision, while isolated spiking was predominant during the beginning of stimulus approach. We also found that the majority of inter-burst intervals (IBIs) occurred at 40–50 ms (or 20–25 bursts/s). Bursting also occurred across varied stimulus parameters and suggests that burst timing may be a key component of looming detection. Our findings suggest that the DCMD uses two modes of coding to transmit information about looming stimuli and that these modes change dynamically with a changing stimulus at a behaviorally-relevant time.

Background complexity affects response of a looming-sensitive neuron to object motion

An increasing number of studies show how stimulus complexity affects the responses of looming-sensitive neurons across multiple animal taxa. Locusts contain a well-described, descending motion-sensitive pathway that is preferentially looming sensitive. However, the lobula giant movement detector/descending contralateral movement detector (LGMD/DCMD) pathway responds to more than simple objects approaching at constant, predictable trajectories. In this study, we presented Locusta migratoria with a series of complex three-dimensional visual stimuli presented while simultaneously recording DCMD activity extracellularly. In addition to a frontal looming stimulus, we used a combination of compound trajectories (nonlooming transitioning to looming) presented at different velocities and onto a simple, scattered, or progressive flow field background. Regardless of stimulus background, DCMD responses to looming were characteristic and related to previously described effects of azimuthal approach angle and velocity of object expansion. However, increasing background complexity caused reduced firing rates, delayed peaks, shorter rise phases, and longer fall phases. DCMD responded to transitions to looming with a characteristic drop in a firing rate that was relatively invariant across most stimulus combinations and occurred regardless of stimulus background. Spike numbers were higher in the presence of the scattered background and reduced in the flow field background. We show that DCMD response time to a transition depends on unique expansion parameters of the moving stimulus irrespective of background complexity. Our results show how background complexity shapes DCMD responses to looming stimuli, which is explained within a behavioral context.

Computation of object approach by a system of visual motion-sensitive neurons in the crab Neohelice

Similar to most visual animals, crabs perform proper avoidance responses to objects directly approaching them. The monostratified lobula giant neurons of type 1 (MLG1) of crabs constitute an ensemble of 14-16 bilateral pairs of motion-detecting neurons projecting from the lobula (third optic neuropile) to the midbrain, with receptive fields that are distributed over the extensive visual field of the animal's eye. Considering the crab Neohelice (previously Chasmagnathus) granulata, here we describe the response of these neurons to looming stimuli that simulate objects approaching the animal on a collision course. We found that the peak firing time of MLG1 acts as an angular threshold detector signaling, with a delay of δ = 35 ms, the time at which an object reaches a fixed angular threshold of 49°. Using in vivo intracellular recordings, we detected the existence of excitatory and inhibitory synaptic currents that shape the neural response. Other functional features identified in the MLG1 neurons were phasic responses at the beginning of the approach, a relation between the stimulus angular velocity and the excitation delay, and a mapping between membrane potential and firing frequency. Using this information, we propose a biophysical model of the mechanisms that regulate the encoding of looming stimuli. Furthermore, we found that the parameter encoded by the MLG1 firing frequency during the approach is the stimulus angular velocity. The proposed model fits the experimental results and predicts the neural response to a qualitatively different stimulus. Based on these and previous results, we propose that the MLG1 neuron system acts as a directional coding system for collision avoidance.

Responses of a pair of flying locusts to lateral looming visual stimuli

We presented a pair of locusts flying loosely tethered with laterally looming discs. Two experiments tested whether looming-evoked flight behaviour was affected by the presence (1) or relative position (2) of a conspecific. We recorded: the type of behavioural response, motion within 6 degrees of freedom, behavioural onset time and duration, distance between individuals and relative direction of motion. Response distributions of the locust furthest from the stimulus (L1) were not affected by the presence or relative position of a conspecific, whereas distributions of the closer locust (L2) were affected by its position relative to the stimulus. Motion tracks of L1 were affected by the presence of L2, which generated relatively robust responses directed forward and away from the stimulus. Translational and rotational motion of L1 differed across treatments in both experiments, whereas L2 motion was less sensitive to the presence or position of a conspecific. The start and duration of the behaviour were invariant to the presence or position of a conspecific and locust pairs maintained a fixed distance during responses to looming. Results suggest that looming-evoked behaviour is influenced by visual cues from a conspecific in the vicinity.

Spatiotemporal stimulus properties modulate responses to trajectory changes in a locust looming-sensitive pathway

The lobula giant movement detector (LGMD) and descending contralateral movement detector (DCMD) constitute one motion-sensitive pathway in the locust visual system that is implicated in collision-avoidance behaviors. While this pathway is thought to respond preferentially to objects approaching on a direct collision course, emerging studies suggest the firing rate is able to monitor more complicated movements that would occur under natural conditions. While previous studies have compared the response of the DCMD to objects on collision courses that travel at different speeds, velocity has not been manipulated for other simple or compound trajectories. Here we test the possibility that the LGMD/DCMD pathway is capable of responding uniquely to complex aspects of object motion, including translation and trajectory changes at different velocities. We found that the response of the DCMD to translational motion initiated in the caudal visual field was a low-amplitude peak in firing rate that occurred before the object crossed 90° azimuth that was invariant to different object velocities. Direct looms at different velocities resulted in peak firing rates that occurred later in time and with greater amplitude for higher velocities. In response to transitions from translational motion to a collision course, the firing rate change depended on both the location within the visual field and the velocity. These results suggest that this pathway is capable of conveying information about multiple properties of a moving object's trajectory.