TY - JOUR
T1 - Robust coding of flow-field parameters by axo-axonal gap junctions between fly visual interneurons
AU - Cuntz, Hermann
AU - Haag, Juergen
AU - Forstner, Friedrich
AU - Segev, Idan
AU - Borst, Alexander
PY - 2007/6/12
Y1 - 2007/6/12
N2 - Complex flight maneuvers require a sophisticated system to exploit the optic flow resulting from moving images of the environment projected onto the retina. In the fly's visual course control center, the lobula plate, 10 so-called vertical system (VS) cells are thought to match, with their complex receptive fields, the optic flow resulting from rotation around different body axes. However, signals of single VS cells are unreliable indicators of such optic flow parameters in the context of their noisy, texture-dependent input from local motion measurements. Here we propose an alternative encoding scheme based on network simulations of biophysically realistic compartmental models of VS cells. The simulations incorporate recent data about the highly selective connectivity between VS cells consisting of an electrical axo-axonal coupling between adjacent cells and a reciprocal inhibition between the most distant cells. We find that this particular wiring performs a linear interpolation between the output signals of VS cells, leading to a robust representation of the axis of rotation even in the presence of textureless patches of the visual surround.
AB - Complex flight maneuvers require a sophisticated system to exploit the optic flow resulting from moving images of the environment projected onto the retina. In the fly's visual course control center, the lobula plate, 10 so-called vertical system (VS) cells are thought to match, with their complex receptive fields, the optic flow resulting from rotation around different body axes. However, signals of single VS cells are unreliable indicators of such optic flow parameters in the context of their noisy, texture-dependent input from local motion measurements. Here we propose an alternative encoding scheme based on network simulations of biophysically realistic compartmental models of VS cells. The simulations incorporate recent data about the highly selective connectivity between VS cells consisting of an electrical axo-axonal coupling between adjacent cells and a reciprocal inhibition between the most distant cells. We find that this particular wiring performs a linear interpolation between the output signals of VS cells, leading to a robust representation of the axis of rotation even in the presence of textureless patches of the visual surround.
KW - Imaging
KW - Insect
KW - Model
KW - Optic flow
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=34547201695&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1073/pnas.0703697104
DO - 10.1073/pnas.0703697104
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C2 - 17551009
AN - SCOPUS:34547201695
SN - 0027-8424
VL - 104
SP - 10229
EP - 10233
JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
IS - 24
ER -