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Alexander E, Cai LT, Fuchs S, Hladnik TC, Zhang Y, Subramanian V, Guilbeault NC, Vijayakumar C, Arunachalam M, Juntti SA, Thiele TR, Arrenberg AB, Cooper EA. Optic flow in the natural habitats of zebrafish supports spatial biases in visual self-motion estimation. Curr Biol 2022; 32:5008-5021.e8. [PMID: 36327979 PMCID: PMC9729457 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.10.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2022] [Revised: 08/15/2022] [Accepted: 10/05/2022] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Animals benefit from knowing if and how they are moving. Across the animal kingdom, sensory information in the form of optic flow over the visual field is used to estimate self-motion. However, different species exhibit strong spatial biases in how they use optic flow. Here, we show computationally that noisy natural environments favor visual systems that extract spatially biased samples of optic flow when estimating self-motion. The performance associated with these biases, however, depends on interactions between the environment and the animal's brain and behavior. Using the larval zebrafish as a model, we recorded natural optic flow associated with swimming trajectories in the animal's habitat with an omnidirectional camera mounted on a mechanical arm. An analysis of these flow fields suggests that lateral regions of the lower visual field are most informative about swimming speed. This pattern is consistent with the recent findings that zebrafish optomotor responses are preferentially driven by optic flow in the lateral lower visual field, which we extend with behavioral results from a high-resolution spherical arena. Spatial biases in optic-flow sampling are likely pervasive because they are an effective strategy for determining self-motion in noisy natural environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emma Alexander
- Herbert Wertheim School of Optometry & Vision Science, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA,Present address: Department of Computer Science, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA,Lead contact,Correspondence:
| | - Lanya T. Cai
- Herbert Wertheim School of Optometry & Vision Science, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA,Present address: Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Sabrina Fuchs
- Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, Institute of Neurobiology, University of Tubingen, 72076 Tubingen, Germany
| | - Tim C. Hladnik
- Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, Institute of Neurobiology, University of Tubingen, 72076 Tubingen, Germany,Graduate Training Centre for Neuroscience, University of Tubingen, 72074 Tubingen, Germany
| | - Yue Zhang
- Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, Institute of Neurobiology, University of Tubingen, 72076 Tubingen, Germany,Graduate Training Centre for Neuroscience, University of Tubingen, 72074 Tubingen, Germany,Present address: Department of Cellular and Systems Neurobiology, Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence in Foundation, 82152 Martinsried, Germany
| | - Venkatesh Subramanian
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto M1C 1A4, Canada
| | - Nicholas C. Guilbeault
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto M1C 1A4, Canada,Department of Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto M5S 3G5, Canada
| | - Chinnian Vijayakumar
- Department of Zoology, St. Andrew’s College, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh 273001, India
| | - Muthukumarasamy Arunachalam
- Department of Zoology, School of Biological Sciences, Central University of Kerala, Kerala 671316, India,Present address: Centre for Inland Fishes and Conservation, St. Andrew’s College, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh 273001, India
| | - Scott A. Juntti
- Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA
| | - Tod R. Thiele
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto M1C 1A4, Canada,Department of Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto M5S 3G5, Canada
| | - Aristides B. Arrenberg
- Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, Institute of Neurobiology, University of Tubingen, 72076 Tubingen, Germany
| | - Emily A. Cooper
- Herbert Wertheim School of Optometry & Vision Science, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA,Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
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Alexander E, Cai LT, Fuchs S, Hladnik TC, Zhang Y, Subramanian V, Guilbeault NC, Vijayakumar C, Arunachalam M, Juntti SA, Thiele TR, Arrenberg AB, Cooper EA. Optic flow in the natural habitats of zebrafish supports spatial biases in visual self-motion estimation. Curr Biol 2022. [PMID: 36327979 DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6604546] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Animals benefit from knowing if and how they are moving. Across the animal kingdom, sensory information in the form of optic flow over the visual field is used to estimate self-motion. However, different species exhibit strong spatial biases in how they use optic flow. Here, we show computationally that noisy natural environments favor visual systems that extract spatially biased samples of optic flow when estimating self-motion. The performance associated with these biases, however, depends on interactions between the environment and the animal's brain and behavior. Using the larval zebrafish as a model, we recorded natural optic flow associated with swimming trajectories in the animal's habitat with an omnidirectional camera mounted on a mechanical arm. An analysis of these flow fields suggests that lateral regions of the lower visual field are most informative about swimming speed. This pattern is consistent with the recent findings that zebrafish optomotor responses are preferentially driven by optic flow in the lateral lower visual field, which we extend with behavioral results from a high-resolution spherical arena. Spatial biases in optic-flow sampling are likely pervasive because they are an effective strategy for determining self-motion in noisy natural environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emma Alexander
- Herbert Wertheim School of Optometry & Vision Science, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
| | - Lanya T Cai
- Herbert Wertheim School of Optometry & Vision Science, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Sabrina Fuchs
- Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, Institute of Neurobiology, University of Tubingen, 72076 Tubingen, Germany
| | - Tim C Hladnik
- Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, Institute of Neurobiology, University of Tubingen, 72076 Tubingen, Germany; Graduate Training Centre for Neuroscience, University of Tubingen, 72074 Tubingen, Germany
| | - Yue Zhang
- Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, Institute of Neurobiology, University of Tubingen, 72076 Tubingen, Germany; Graduate Training Centre for Neuroscience, University of Tubingen, 72074 Tubingen, Germany
| | - Venkatesh Subramanian
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto M1C 1A4, Canada
| | - Nicholas C Guilbeault
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto M1C 1A4, Canada; Department of Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto M5S 3G5, Canada
| | - Chinnian Vijayakumar
- Department of Zoology, St. Andrew's College, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh 273001, India
| | | | - Scott A Juntti
- Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA
| | - Tod R Thiele
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto M1C 1A4, Canada; Department of Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto M5S 3G5, Canada
| | - Aristides B Arrenberg
- Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, Institute of Neurobiology, University of Tubingen, 72076 Tubingen, Germany
| | - Emily A Cooper
- Herbert Wertheim School of Optometry & Vision Science, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
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Alexander E, Cai LT, Fuchs S, Hladnik TC, Zhang Y, Subramanian V, Guilbeault NC, Vijayakumar C, Arunachalam M, Juntti SA, Thiele TR, Arrenberg AB, Cooper EA. Optic flow in the natural habitats of zebrafish supports spatial biases in visual self-motion estimation. Curr Biol 2022. [PMID: 36327979 DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7120876] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Animals benefit from knowing if and how they are moving. Across the animal kingdom, sensory information in the form of optic flow over the visual field is used to estimate self-motion. However, different species exhibit strong spatial biases in how they use optic flow. Here, we show computationally that noisy natural environments favor visual systems that extract spatially biased samples of optic flow when estimating self-motion. The performance associated with these biases, however, depends on interactions between the environment and the animal's brain and behavior. Using the larval zebrafish as a model, we recorded natural optic flow associated with swimming trajectories in the animal's habitat with an omnidirectional camera mounted on a mechanical arm. An analysis of these flow fields suggests that lateral regions of the lower visual field are most informative about swimming speed. This pattern is consistent with the recent findings that zebrafish optomotor responses are preferentially driven by optic flow in the lateral lower visual field, which we extend with behavioral results from a high-resolution spherical arena. Spatial biases in optic-flow sampling are likely pervasive because they are an effective strategy for determining self-motion in noisy natural environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emma Alexander
- Herbert Wertheim School of Optometry & Vision Science, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
| | - Lanya T Cai
- Herbert Wertheim School of Optometry & Vision Science, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Sabrina Fuchs
- Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, Institute of Neurobiology, University of Tubingen, 72076 Tubingen, Germany
| | - Tim C Hladnik
- Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, Institute of Neurobiology, University of Tubingen, 72076 Tubingen, Germany; Graduate Training Centre for Neuroscience, University of Tubingen, 72074 Tubingen, Germany
| | - Yue Zhang
- Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, Institute of Neurobiology, University of Tubingen, 72076 Tubingen, Germany; Graduate Training Centre for Neuroscience, University of Tubingen, 72074 Tubingen, Germany
| | - Venkatesh Subramanian
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto M1C 1A4, Canada
| | - Nicholas C Guilbeault
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto M1C 1A4, Canada; Department of Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto M5S 3G5, Canada
| | - Chinnian Vijayakumar
- Department of Zoology, St. Andrew's College, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh 273001, India
| | | | - Scott A Juntti
- Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA
| | - Tod R Thiele
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto M1C 1A4, Canada; Department of Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto M5S 3G5, Canada
| | - Aristides B Arrenberg
- Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, Institute of Neurobiology, University of Tubingen, 72076 Tubingen, Germany
| | - Emily A Cooper
- Herbert Wertheim School of Optometry & Vision Science, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
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