The Central Complex as a Potential Substrate for Vector Based Navigation

Frontiers in Psychology

article

Florent Le Moël¹  Thomas Stone²  Mathieu Lihoreau¹  Antoine Wystrach¹  Barbara Webb² 

[1] Research Centre on Animal Cognition, Centre for Integrative Biology, University of Toulouse;School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom

关键词: vector;    path integration;    memory;    insect;    navigation;    neural modeling;    traplining;    central complex;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00690

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Insects use path integration (PI) to maintain a home vector, but can also store and recall vector-memories that take them from home to a food location, and even allow them to take novel shortcuts between food locations. The neural circuit of the Central Complex (a brain area that receives compass and optic flow information) forms a plausible substrate for these behaviors. A recent model, grounded in neurophysiological and neuroanatomical data, can account for PI during outbound exploratory routes and the control of steering to return home. Here, we show that minor, hypothetical but neurally plausible, extensions of this model can additionally explain how insects could store and recall PI vectors to follow food-ward paths, take shortcuts, search at the feeder and re-calibrate their vector-memories with experience. In addition, a simple assumption about how one of multiple vector-memories might be chosen at any point in time can produce the development and maintenance of efficient routes between multiple locations, as observed in bees. The central complex circuitry is therefore well-suited to allow for a rich vector-based navigational repertoire.

【 授权许可】

CC BY