Right-left discrimination in a biologically oriented model of the cockroach escape system

Erez A. Ezrachi*, Rafael Levi, Jeffrey M. Camhi, Hanna Parnas

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

We present a biologically oriented model that accounts for left-right discrimination in the cockroach's escape behavior. The model includes the main groups of neurons found to be involved in the escape response. Each one of the included neurons is described by the actual processes taking place in an individual neuron (formation of an action potential, transmitter release, conductance changes, etc.). Furthermore, realistic chemical synapses (excitatory or inhibitory and able to undergo different types of modulation) connect the various neurons. With this model, we were able to achieve, for a wide range of inputs representing different wind directions, behavior which resembles that found experimentally. The model indicates that several synaptic properties, in particular postsynaptic inhibition and presynaptic facilitation, play a key role in the discrimination of wind direction.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)89-99
Number of pages11
JournalBiological Cybernetics
Volume81
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 1999

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