scholarly journals Rotating panoramic view: interaction between visual and olfactory cues in ants

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 150426 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mai Minoura ◽  
Kohei Sonoda ◽  
Tomoko Sakiyama ◽  
Yukio-Pegio Gunji
Keyword(s):  
Rotational Speed ◽  
Path Integration ◽  
Visual Input ◽  
Olfactory Cues ◽  
Lasius Niger ◽  
Panoramic View ◽  
Multiple Strategies ◽  
Rotating Table ◽  
Pheromone Trail

Insects use a navigational toolkit consisting of multiple strategies such as path integration, view-dependent recognition methods and olfactory cues. The question arises as to how directional cues afforded by a visual panorama combine with olfactory cues from a pheromone trail to guide ants towards their nest. We positioned a garden ant Lasius niger on a rotating table, whereon a segment of a pheromone trail relative to the stationary panorama was rotated while the ant walked along the trail towards its nest. The rotational speed of the table (3 r.p.m.) was set so that the table would rotate through about 90° by the time that an ant had walked from the start to the centre of the table. The ant completed a U-turn at about this point and so travelled in a nest-ward direction without leaving the trail. These results suggest that the ants persist on the pheromone trail and use visual input to determine their direction of travel along the trail.

Perceived self-motion in two visual contexts: Dissociable mechanisms underlie perception

2006 ◽  
Vol 16 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 23-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Geoffrey Wright ◽  
Paul DiZio ◽  
James R. Lackner
Keyword(s):  
Motion Perception ◽  
Path Integration ◽  
Visual Input ◽  
Visual Scene ◽  
Spatial Context ◽  
Immersive Virtual Environment ◽  
Physical Context ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Self Motion ◽  
Visual Acceleration

We evaluated the influence of moving visual scenes and knowledge of spatial and physical context on visually induced self-motion perception in an immersive virtual environment. A sinusoidal, vertically oscillating visual stimulus induced perceptions of self-motion that matched changes in visual acceleration. Subjects reported peaks of perceived self-motion in synchrony with peaks of visual acceleration and opposite in direction to visual scene motion. Spatial context was manipulated by testing subjects in the environment that matched the room in the visual scene or by testing them in a separate chamber. Physical context was manipulated by testing the subject while seated in a stable, earth-fixed desk chair or in an apparatus capable of large linear motions, however, in both conditions no actual motion occurred. The compellingness of perceived self-motion was increased significantly when the spatial context matched the visual input and actual body displacement was possible, however, the latency and amplitude of perceived self-motion were unaffected by the spatial or physical context. We propose that two dissociable processes are involved in self-motion perception: one process, primarily driven by visual input, affects vection latency and path integration, the other process, receiving cognitive input, drives the compellingness of perceived self-motion.

Rapid up- and down-regulation of pheromone signalling due to trail crowding in the ant Lasius niger

Behaviour ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 151 (5) ◽  
pp. 669-682 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomer J. Czaczkes ◽  
Christoph Grüter ◽  
Francis L.W. Ratnieks
Keyword(s):  
Cuticular Hydrocarbons ◽  
Social Insects ◽  
Glass Beads ◽  
Lasius Niger ◽  
Base Line ◽  
Baseline Levels ◽  
Line Level ◽  
Pheromone Signalling ◽  
Repeat Visits ◽  
Pheromone Trail

Social insects often respond to signals and cues from nest-mates, and these responses may include changes in the information they, in turn, transmit. During foraging, Lasius niger deposits a pheromone trail to recruit nestmates, and ants that experience trail crowding deposit pheromone less often. Less studied, however, is the time taken for signalling to revert to baseline levels after conditions have returned to baseline levels. In this paper we study the behaviour of L. niger foragers on a trail in which crowding is simulated by using dummy ants — black glass beads coated in nestmate cuticular hydrocarbons. Ants were allowed to make four repeat visits to a feeder with dummy ants, and thus crowding, being present on the trail on all visits (CCCC), none (UUUU) or only the first two (CCUU). If dummy ants were always present (CCCC), pheromone deposition probability was low in the first two visits (54% of ants deposited pheromone) and remained low in visits 3 and 4 (51%). If dummy ants were never present (UUUU) pheromone deposition probability was high in the first two visits (93%) and remained high in visits 3 and 4 (83%). If dummy ants were present on the first two visits but removed on the second two visits (CCUU) pheromone deposition probability was low in the first two visits (61%) but rose in the second two visits (69%). This demonstrates that even after pheromone deposition has been down-regulated due to crowding in the first two visits, it is rapidly up-regulated when crowding is reduced, although it does not immediately return to the base line level.

scholarly journals The Use of Landmarks by Clark's Nutcrackers: First Tests of a New Model

2001 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 429-435 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan C. Kamil ◽  
Aleida J. Goodyear ◽  
Ken Cheng
Keyword(s):  
Path Integration ◽  
Interesting Case ◽  
Olfactory Cues ◽  
Nucifraga Columbiana ◽  
Scatter Hoarding ◽  
New Model ◽  
Desert Ants ◽  
Clark’S Nutcrackers ◽  
Multiple Bearings ◽  
Clark's Nutcrackers

Animals use many different mechanisms to navigate in space. The characteristics of the mechanism employed are usually well-suited to the demands of each particular navigational problem. For example, desert ants navigating in a relatively featureless environment use path integration, birds homing or migrating over long distances use compasses of various sorts, salmon returning to their natal stream home on olfactory cues. The study of navigation requires the study of many different taxa confronting different problems. One interesting case involves scatter-hoarding species that use memory to relocate their hidden food. Such animals face the problem of remembering many locations simultaneously. Clark's nutcrackers (Nucifraga columbiana) are an excellent example, and this paper considers their possible use of multiple bearings from landmarks.

scholarly journals Same length, different shapes: ants collectively choose a straight foraging path over a bent one

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 20180070 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivier Bles ◽  
Thibault Boehly ◽  
Jean-Louis Deneubourg ◽  
Stamatios C. Nicolis
Keyword(s):  
Food Source ◽  
Abrupt Change ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Lasius Niger ◽  
Straight Path ◽  
Change Of Direction ◽  
Collective Decisions ◽  
Different Shapes ◽  
Theoretical Results ◽  
Pheromone Trail

In socials insects, exploration is fundamental for the discovery of food resources and determines decision-making. We investigated how the interplay between the physical characteristics of the paths leading to food sources and the way it impacts the behaviour of individual ants affects their collective decisions. Colonies of different sizes of Lasius niger had access to two equal food sources through two paths of equal length but of different geometries: one was straight between the nest and the food source, and the other involved an abrupt change of direction at the midway point (135°). Both food sources were discovered simultaneously, but the food source at the end of the straight path was preferentially exploited by ants. Based on experimental and theoretical results, we show that a significantly shorter duration of nestbound travel on the straight path, which rapidly leads to a stronger pheromone trail, is at the origin of this preference.

Private information conflict: Lasius niger ants prefer olfactory cues to route memory

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 355-364 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. B. Oberhauser ◽  
A. Schlemm ◽  
S. Wendt ◽  
T. J. Czaczkes
Keyword(s):  
Private Information ◽  
Olfactory Cues ◽  
Lasius Niger ◽  
Route Memory ◽  
Information Conflict

scholarly journals Hard limits to cognitive flexibility: ants can learn to ignore but not avoid pheromone trails

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katharina Wenig ◽  
Richard Bach ◽  
Tomer J. Czaczkes
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Flexibility ◽  
Negative Stimulus ◽  
Lasius Niger ◽  
Pheromone Trails ◽  
Social Signal ◽  
Y Maze ◽  
Hard Limit ◽  
Learning Flexibility ◽  
Pheromone Trail ◽  
Innate Tendency

Learning allows animals to respond to changes in their environment within their lifespan. However, many responses to the environment are innate, and need not be learned. Depending on the level of cognitive flexibility an animal shows, such responses can either be modified by learning or not. Many ants deposit pheromone trails to resources, and innately follow such trails. Here, we investigated cognitive flexibility in the ant Lasius niger by asking whether ants can overcome their innate tendency and learn to avoid conspecific pheromone trails when these predict a negative stimulus. Ants were allowed to repeatedly visit a Y-maze, one arm of which was marked with a strong but realistic pheromone trail and led to a punishment (electroshock and/or quinine solution), and the other arm of which was unmarked and led to a 1 M sucrose reward. After circa 10 trials ants stopped relying on the pheromone trail, but even after 25 exposures they failed to improve beyond chance levels. However, the ants did not choose randomly: rather, most ants begun to favour just one side of the Y-maze, a strategy which resulted in more efficient food retrieval over time, when compared to the first visits. Even when trained in a go/no-go paradigm which precludes side bias development, ants failed to learn to avoid a pheromone trail. These results show rapid learning flexibility towards an innate social signal, but also demonstrate a rarely seen hard limit to this flexibility.

The Impact of Visual Feedback Type on the Mastery of Visuo-Motor Transformations

2012 ◽  
Vol 220 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Sülzenbrück
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Research ◽  
Visual Feedback ◽  
Closed Loop ◽  
Motor Planning ◽  
Visual Input ◽  
Closed Loop Control ◽  
Loop Control ◽  
Feedback Type ◽  
Effective Use ◽  
The Impact

For the effective use of modern tools, the inherent visuo-motor transformation needs to be mastered. The successful adjustment to and learning of these transformations crucially depends on practice conditions, particularly on the type of visual feedback during practice. Here, a review about empirical research exploring the influence of continuous and terminal visual feedback during practice on the mastery of visuo-motor transformations is provided. Two studies investigating the impact of the type of visual feedback on either direction-dependent visuo-motor gains or the complex visuo-motor transformation of a virtual two-sided lever are presented in more detail. The findings of these studies indicate that the continuous availability of visual feedback supports performance when closed-loop control is possible, but impairs performance when visual input is no longer available. Different approaches to explain these performance differences due to the type of visual feedback during practice are considered. For example, these differences could reflect a process of re-optimization of motor planning in a novel environment or represent effects of the specificity of practice. Furthermore, differences in the allocation of attention during movements with terminal and continuous visual feedback could account for the observed differences.

Grid Cells and Human Path Integration

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoli Chen ◽  
Timothy P. McNamara ◽  
Jonathan W. Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Path Integration ◽  
Grid Cells
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