Landing reaction ofMusca domestica

A neural model for nonassociative learning in a prototypical sensory-motor scheme: the landing reaction in flies

Nonassociative learning is an important property of neural organization in both vertebrate and invertebrate species. In this paper we propose a neural model for nonassociative learning in a well studied prototypical sensory-motor scheme: the landing reaction of flies. The general structure of the model consists of sensory processing stages, a sensory-motor gate network, and motor control circuits. The paper concentrates on the sensory-motor gate network which has an agonist-antagonist structure. Sensory inputs to this circuit are transduced by chemical messenger systems whose dynamics include depletion and replenishment terms. The resulting circuit is a gated dipole anatomy and we show that it gives a good account of nonassociative learning in the landing reaction of the fly.

Observations on the effect of an excitatory-inhibitory stimulus on the landing reaction of the fly, Calliphoridae

This research investigates at a behavioral level the sensitivity to movement of the visual system of Calliphora, inferred from the motor response of the landing reaction, to observe the variations of the threshold of velocity of the landing reaction during simultaneous introduction of both excitatory (landing) and inhibitory (antilanding) stimuli. Analysis supports the hypothesis that the interaction of opposing stimuli decreases the sensitivity to movement. Moreover, no effect was observed when the number of stimuli per unit time increased.