scholarly journals Multisensory integration supports configural learning of a home refuge in the whip spider Phrynus marginemaculatus

2021 ◽  
Vol 224 (3) ◽  
pp. jeb238444
Author(s):  
Kaylyn A. S. Flanigan ◽  
Daniel D. Wiegmann ◽  
Eileen A. Hebets ◽  
Verner P. Bingman
Keyword(s):  
Multisensory Integration ◽  
Terminal Phase ◽  
Mushroom Bodies ◽  
Configural Learning ◽  
Sensory Inputs ◽  
Paired Stimuli ◽  
Tactile Stimuli ◽  
Multisensory Learning

ABSTRACTWhip spiders (Amblypygi) reside in structurally complex habitats and are nocturnally active yet display notable navigational abilities. From the theory that uncertainty in sensory inputs should promote multisensory representations to guide behavior, we hypothesized that their navigation is supported by a multisensory and perhaps configural representation of navigational inputs, an ability documented in a few insects and never reported in arachnids. We trained Phrynus marginemaculatus to recognize a home shelter characterized by both discriminative olfactory and tactile stimuli. In tests, subjects readily discriminated between shelters based on the paired stimuli. However, subjects failed to recognize the shelter in tests with either of the component stimuli alone. This result is consistent with the hypothesis that the terminal phase of their navigational behavior, shelter recognition, can be supported by the integration of multisensory stimuli as an enduring, configural representation. We hypothesize that multisensory learning occurs in the whip spiders' extraordinarily large mushroom bodies, which may functionally resemble the hippocampus of vertebrates.

scholarly journals Multisensory Configural Learning of a Home Refuge in the Whip Spider Phrynus marginemaculatus

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaylyn AS Flanigan ◽  
Daniel D Wiegmann ◽  
Eileen A Hebets ◽  
Verner P Bingman
Keyword(s):  
Terminal Phase ◽  
Mushroom Bodies ◽  
Configural Learning ◽  
Sensory Inputs ◽  
Paired Stimuli ◽  
Tactile Stimuli ◽  
Multisensory Representation

ABSTRACTWhip spiders (Amblypygi) reside in structurally complex habitats and are nocturnally active yet display notable navigational abilities. From the theory that uncertainty in sensory inputs should promote multisensory representations to guide behavior, we hypothesized that their navigation is supported by a configural, multisensory representation of navigational inputs, an ability documented in a few insects and never reported in arachnids. We trained Phrynus marginemaculatus to recognize a home shelter characterized by both discriminative olfactory and tactile stimuli. In tests, subjects readily discriminated between shelters based on the paired stimuli. However, subjects failed to recognize the shelter in tests with either of the component stimuli alone. This result is consistent with the hypothesis that the terminal phase of their navigational behavior, shelter recognition, can be supported by the integration of multisensory stimuli as a configural representation. We hypothesize that multisensory configural learning occurs in the whip spiders’ extraordinarily large mushroom bodies, which may functionally resemble the hippocampus of vertebrates.

scholarly journals Dynamic modulation of visual and electrosensory gains for locomotor control

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (118) ◽  
pp. 20160057 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin E. Sutton ◽  
Alican Demir ◽  
Sarah A. Stamper ◽  
Eric S. Fortune ◽  
Noah J. Cowan
Keyword(s):  
Augmented Reality ◽  
Multisensory Integration ◽  
Sensorimotor Integration ◽  
Sensory Conflict ◽  
Dynamic Modulation ◽  
Sensory Inputs ◽  
Locomotor Control ◽  
Eigenmannia Virescens ◽  
Future Work ◽  
Perceptual Weights

Animal nervous systems resolve sensory conflict for the control of movement. For example, the glass knifefish, Eigenmannia virescens , relies on visual and electrosensory feedback as it swims to maintain position within a moving refuge. To study how signals from these two parallel sensory streams are used in refuge tracking, we constructed a novel augmented reality apparatus that enables the independent manipulation of visual and electrosensory cues to freely swimming fish ( n = 5). We evaluated the linearity of multisensory integration, the change to the relative perceptual weights given to vision and electrosense in relation to sensory salience, and the effect of the magnitude of sensory conflict on sensorimotor gain. First, we found that tracking behaviour obeys superposition of the sensory inputs, suggesting linear sensorimotor integration. In addition, fish rely more on vision when electrosensory salience is reduced, suggesting that fish dynamically alter sensorimotor gains in a manner consistent with Bayesian integration. However, the magnitude of sensory conflict did not significantly affect sensorimotor gain. These studies lay the theoretical and experimental groundwork for future work investigating multisensory control of locomotion.

scholarly journals Neural substrate for higher-order learning in an insect: Mushroom bodies are necessary for configural discriminations

2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (43) ◽  
pp. E5854-E5862 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Marc Devaud ◽  
Thomas Papouin ◽  
Julie Carcaud ◽  
Jean-Christophe Sandoz ◽  
Bernd Grünewald ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Brain Structures ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Memory Storage ◽  
Learning Theories ◽  
Mushroom Bodies ◽  
Insect Brain ◽  
Configural Learning ◽  
Storage And Retrieval ◽  
Learning Tasks ◽  
Elemental Learning

Learning theories distinguish elemental from configural learning based on their different complexity. Although the former relies on simple and unambiguous links between the learned events, the latter deals with ambiguous discriminations in which conjunctive representations of events are learned as being different from their elements. In mammals, configural learning is mediated by brain areas that are either dispensable or partially involved in elemental learning. We studied whether the insect brain follows the same principles and addressed this question in the honey bee, the only insect in which configural learning has been demonstrated. We used a combination of conditioning protocols, disruption of neural activity, and optophysiological recording of olfactory circuits in the bee brain to determine whether mushroom bodies (MBs), brain structures that are essential for memory storage and retrieval, are equally necessary for configural and elemental olfactory learning. We show that bees with anesthetized MBs distinguish odors and learn elemental olfactory discriminations but not configural ones, such as positive and negative patterning. Inhibition of GABAergic signaling in the MB calyces, but not in the lobes, impairs patterning discrimination, thus suggesting a requirement of GABAergic feedback neurons from the lobes to the calyces for nonelemental learning. These results uncover a previously unidentified role for MBs besides memory storage and retrieval: namely, their implication in the acquisition of ambiguous discrimination problems. Thus, in insects as in mammals, specific brain regions are recruited when the ambiguity of learning tasks increases, a fact that reveals similarities in the neural processes underlying the elucidation of ambiguous tasks across species.

scholarly journals Presynaptic developmental plasticity allows robust sparse wiring of the Drosophila mushroom body

eLife ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Najia A Elkahlah ◽  
Jackson A Rogow ◽  
Maria Ahmed ◽  
E Josephine Clowney
Keyword(s):  
Mushroom Body ◽  
Developmental Plasticity ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Mushroom Bodies ◽  
Set Convergence ◽  
Limited Size ◽  
Sensory Inputs ◽  
Kenyon Cells ◽  
Complex Stimuli ◽  
Developmental Patterning

In order to represent complex stimuli, principle neurons of associative learning regions receive combinatorial sensory inputs. Density of combinatorial innervation is theorized to determine the number of distinct stimuli that can be represented and distinguished from one another, with sparse innervation thought to optimize the complexity of representations in networks of limited size. How the convergence of combinatorial inputs to principle neurons of associative brain regions is established during development is unknown. Here, we explore the developmental patterning of sparse olfactory inputs to Kenyon cells of the Drosophila melanogaster mushroom body. By manipulating the ratio between pre- and post-synaptic cells, we find that postsynaptic Kenyon cells set convergence ratio: Kenyon cells produce fixed distributions of dendritic claws while presynaptic processes are plastic. Moreover, we show that sparse odor responses are preserved in mushroom bodies with reduced cellular repertoires, suggesting that developmental specification of convergence ratio allows functional robustness.

scholarly journals Effects of spatiotemporal stimulus properties on spike timing correlations in owl monkey primary somatosensory cortex

2012 ◽  
Vol 108 (12) ◽  
pp. 3353-3369 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamie L. Reed ◽  
Pierre Pouget ◽  
Hui-Xin Qi ◽  
Zhiyi Zhou ◽  
Melanie R. Bernard ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Somatosensory Cortex ◽  
Cortical Neurons ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Spike Timing ◽  
Primary Somatosensory Cortex ◽  
Spatial Proximity ◽  
Electrode Arrays ◽  
Paired Stimuli ◽  
Tactile Stimuli ◽  
Source Of Information

The correlated discharges of cortical neurons in primary somatosensory cortex are a potential source of information about somatosensory stimuli. One aspect of neuronal correlations that has not been well studied is how the spatiotemporal properties of tactile stimuli affect the presence and magnitude of correlations. We presented single- and dual-point stimuli with varying spatiotemporal relationships to the hands of three anesthetized owl monkeys and recorded neuronal activity from 100-electrode arrays implanted in primary somatosensory cortex. Correlation magnitudes derived from joint peristimulus time histogram (JPSTH) analysis of single neuron pairs were used to determine the level of spike timing correlations under selected spatiotemporal stimulus conditions. Correlated activities between neuron pairs were commonly observed, and the proportions of correlated pairs tended to decrease with distance between the recorded neurons. Distance between stimulus sites also affected correlations. When stimuli were presented simultaneously at two sites, ∼37% of the recorded neuron pairs showed significant correlations when adjacent phalanges were stimulated, and ∼21% of the pairs were significantly correlated when nonadjacent digits were stimulated. Spatial proximity of paired stimuli also increased the average correlation magnitude. Stimulus onset asynchronies in the paired stimuli had small effects on the correlation magnitude. These results show that correlated discharges between neurons at the first level of cortical processing provide information about the relative locations of two stimuli on the hand.

The Development of Multisensory Integration in the Brain

Perception ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 26 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 35-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
M T Wallace
Keyword(s):  
Multisensory Integration ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Developmental Time ◽  
Response Latencies ◽  
Sensory Stimuli ◽  
Sensory Inputs ◽  
Response Enhancement ◽  
Sensory Responses ◽  
The Brain

Multisensory integration in the superior colliculus (SC) of the cat requires a protracted postnatal developmental time course. Kittens 3 – 135 days postnatal (dpn) were examined and the first neuron capable of responding to two different sensory inputs (auditory and somatosensory) was not seen until 12 dpn. Visually responsive multisensory neurons were not encountered until 20 dpn. These early multisensory neurons responded weakly to sensory stimuli, had long response latencies, large receptive fields, and poorly developed response selectivities. Most striking, however, was their inability to integrate cross-modality cues in order to produce the significant response enhancement or depression characteristic of these neurons in adults. The incidence of multisensory neurons increased gradually over the next 10 – 12 weeks. During this period, sensory responses became more robust, latencies shortened, receptive fields decreased in size, and unimodal selectivities matured. The first neurons capable of cross-modality integration were seen at 28 dpn. For the following two months, the incidence of such integrative neurons rose gradually until adult-like values were achieved. Surprisingly, however, as soon as a multisensory neuron exhibited this capacity, most of its integrative features were indistinguishable from those in adults. Given what is known about the requirements for multisensory integration in adult animals, this observation suggests that the appearance of multisensory integration reflects the onset of functional corticotectal inputs.

scholarly journals The Redundant Signals Effect and the Full Body Illusion: not Multisensory, but Unisensory Tactile Stimuli Are Affected by the Illusion

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-33
Author(s):  
Lieke M. J. Swinkels ◽  
Harm Veling ◽  
Hein T. van Schie
Keyword(s):  
Multisensory Integration ◽  
Objective Measure ◽  
Race Model ◽  
Detection Task ◽  
Head Mounted Display ◽  
Person Perspective ◽  
Tactile Stimuli ◽  
Third Person Perspective ◽  
Full Body ◽  
Virtual Body

Abstract During a full body illusion (FBI), participants experience a change in self-location towards a body that they see in front of them from a third-person perspective and experience touch to originate from this body. Multisensory integration is thought to underlie this illusion. In the present study we tested the redundant signals effect (RSE) as a new objective measure of the illusion that was designed to directly tap into the multisensory integration underlying the illusion. The illusion was induced by an experimenter who stroked and tapped the participant’s shoulder and underarm, while participants perceived the touch on the virtual body in front of them via a head-mounted display. Participants performed a speeded detection task, responding to visual stimuli on the virtual body, to tactile stimuli on the real body and to combined (multisensory) visual and tactile stimuli. Analysis of the RSE with a race model inequality test indicated that multisensory integration took place in both the synchronous and the asynchronous condition. This surprising finding suggests that simultaneous bodily stimuli from different (visual and tactile) modalities will be transiently integrated into a multisensory representation even when no illusion is induced. Furthermore, this finding suggests that the RSE is not a suitable objective measure of body illusions. Interestingly however, responses to the unisensory tactile stimuli in the speeded detection task were found to be slower and had a larger variance in the asynchronous condition than in the synchronous condition. The implications of this finding for the literature on body representations are discussed.

scholarly journals Performing a task jointly enhances the sound-induced flash illusion

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Basil Wahn ◽  
Tim Rohe ◽  
Anika Gearhart ◽  
Alan Kingstone ◽  
Scott Sinnett
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Multisensory Integration ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Integration Process ◽  
Sensory Inputs ◽  
Counting Task ◽  
Social Processing ◽  
Visual Access

Our different senses are stimulated continuously. Through multisensory integration, different sensory inputs may or may not be combined into a unitary percept. Simultaneous with this stimulation, people are frequently engaged in social interactions, but how multisensory integration and social processing combine is largely unknown. The present study investigated if, and how, the multisensory sound-induced flash illusion is affected by a social manipulation. In the sound-induced flash illusion, a participant typically receives one visual flash and two auditory beeps and she/he is required to indicate the number of flashes that were perceived. Often, the auditory beeps alter the perception of the flashes such that a participant tends to perceive two flashes instead of one flash. We tested whether performing a flash counting task with a partner (confederate), who was required to indicate the number of presented beeps, would modulate this illusion. We found that the sound-induced flash illusion was perceived significantly more often when the flash counting task was performed with the confederate compared to performing it alone. Yet, we no longer find this effect if visual access between the two individuals is prevented. These findings, combined with previous results, suggest that performing a multisensory task jointly - in this case an audiovisual task - lowers the extent to which an individual attends to visual information - which in turn affects the multisensory integration process.

scholarly journals The somatosensory system in anorexia nervosa: A scoping review

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 204380872098734
Author(s):  
Max Teaford ◽  
Matthew S. McMurray ◽  
Vincent Billock ◽  
Madison Filipkowski ◽  
L. James Smart
Keyword(s):  
Anorexia Nervosa ◽  
Multisensory Integration ◽  
Current Literature ◽  
Scoping Review ◽  
Food Restriction ◽  
Haptic Perception ◽  
Somatosensory System ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Body Perception ◽  
Tactile Stimuli

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a severe psychiatric disorder characterized by a number of symptoms including food restriction and body perception distortions. In the present scoping review, we outline the current literature on sensory submodalities related to the somatosensory system in AN including affective touch, haptic perception, interoception, nociception, proprioception, and tactile perception as well as multisensory integration. The evidence suggests that individuals with AN exhibit abnormalities in multisensory integration, discrimination (but not detection) of complex haptic and tactile stimuli, and reduced sensitivity to nociceptive stimuli. This review provides an outline of the current literature, identifies gaps within the literature, and suggests novel directions for future research.

scholarly journals Exploring the Links between Sensation & Perception

2021 ◽  
Vol 83 (6) ◽  
pp. 377-381
Author(s):  
Maureen E. Dunbar ◽  
Jacqueline J. Shade
Keyword(s):  
Multisensory Integration ◽  
Scientific Method ◽  
Sensory Experience ◽  
Sensory Inputs ◽  
Anatomy And Physiology ◽  
Flavor Perception ◽  
Sensory Modalities ◽  
Crossmodal Perception

In a traditional anatomy and physiology lab, the general senses – temperature, pain, touch, pressure, vibration, and proprioception – and the special senses – olfaction (smell), vision, gustation (taste), hearing, and equilibrium – are typically taught in isolation. In reality, information derived from these individual senses interacts to produce the complex sensory experience that constitutes perception. To introduce students to the concept of multisensory integration, a crossmodal perception lab was developed. In this lab, students explore how vision impacts olfaction and how vision and olfaction interact to impact flavor perception. Students are required to perform a series of multisensory tasks that focus on the interaction of multiple sensory inputs and their impact on flavor and scent perception. Additionally, students develop their own hypothesis as to which sensory modalities they believe will best assist them in correctly identifying the flavor of a candy: taste alone, taste paired with scent, or taste paired with vision. Together these experiments give students an appreciation for multisensory integration while also encouraging them to actively engage in the scientific method. They are then asked to hypothesize the possible outcome of one last experiment after collecting and assessing data from the prior tasks.

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