Selective attention in the honeybee optic lobes precedes behavioral choices

Paulk, Angelique C (author)

Stacey, Jacqueline A (author)

Pearson, Thomas WJ (author)

Taylor, Gavin (author): Lund University,Lunds universitet,Funktionell zoologi,Biologiska institutionen,Naturvetenskapliga fakulteten,Functional zoology,Department of Biology,Faculty of Science,University of Queensland

Moore, Richard JD (author)

Srinivasan, Mandyam V (author)

Van Swinderen, Bruno (author)

(creator_code:org_t)

2014-03-17
2014
English.
In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. - : Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. - 1091-6490 .- 0027-8424. ; 111:13, s. 5006-5011

Related links:: http://dx.doi.org/10...; show more...; https://www.pnas.org...; https://lup.lub.lu.s...; https://doi.org/10.1...; show less...

Abstract Subject headings

Attention allows animals to respond selectively to competing stimuli, enabling some stimuli to evoke a behavioral response while others are ignored. How the brain does this remains mysterious, although it is increasingly evident that even animals with the smallest brains display this capacity. For example, insects respond selectively to salient visual stimuli, but it is unknown where such selectivity occurs in the insect brain, or whether neural correlates of attention might predict the visual choices made by an insect. Here, we investigate neural correlates of visual attention in behaving honeybees (Apis mellifera). Using a closed-loop paradigm that allows tethered, walking bees to actively control visual objects in a virtual reality arena, we show that behavioral fixation increases neuronal responses to flickering, frequency-tagged stimuli. Attention-like effects were reduced in the optic lobes during replay of the same visual sequences, when bees were not able to control the visual displays. When bees were presented with competing frequency-tagged visual stimuli, selectivity in the medulla (an optic ganglion) preceded behavioral selection of a stimulus, suggesting that modulation of early visual processing centers precedes eventual behavioral choices made by these insects.

By the author/editor: Paulk, Angelique ...; Stacey, Jacqueli ...; Pearson, Thomas ...; Taylor, Gavin; Moore, Richard J ...; Srinivasan, Mand ...; show more...; Van Swinderen, B ...; show less...

About the subject

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