Convergent escape behavior from distinct visual processing of impending collision in fish and grasshoppers – Dataset

Published: 24 October 2023| Version 1 | DOI: 10.17632/89s2ss2wzk.1
Contributors:
Richard Dewell, Fabrizio Gabbiani,

Description

This includes data and code for generating figures for the corresponding article "Convergent escape behaviour from distinct visual processing of impending collision in fish and grasshoppers" in the Journal of Physiology (2023). https://doi.org/10.1113/JP284022 Figures were generated with Matlab and for each figure there is a corresponding matlab script ("Fig1.m" for Figure 1, etc.). The data plotted are saved in corresponding matlab data files: fish_data.mat – contains the results of all goldfish behavioral experiments for the paper to standard looming stimuli and looming stimuli with positive and negative acceleration (NZA) acc_jump.mat – contains results of behavioral experiments in grasshoppers to standard looming and NZA stimuli acc_ephys.mat – contains results of electrophysiology experiments in grasshoppers to standard looming and NZA stimuli (identical stimuli were used for data in fish_data.mat, acc_jump.mat, and acc_ephys.mat) CAV_jump.mat – contains results of behavioral experiments in grasshoppers to constant angular velocity (CAV) stimuli CAV_data.mat – contains results of electrophysiology experiments in grasshoppers to constant angular velocity (CAV) stimuli Additionally the figure scripts depend on some custom matlab code, and this included in the subfolder "called functions" which needs to be added to the matlab path for the figure scripts to run correctly. article abstract: In animal species ranging from invertebrate to mammals, visually guided escape behaviours have been studied using looming stimuli, the two-dimensional expanding projection on a screen of an object approaching on a collision course at constant speed. The peak firing rate or membrane potential of neurons responding to looming stimuli often tracks a fixed threshold angular size of the approaching stimulus that contributes to the triggering of escape behaviours. To study whether this result holds more generally, we designed stimuli that simulate acceleration or deceleration over the course of object approach on a collision course. Under these conditions, we found that the angular threshold conveyed by collision detecting neurons in grasshoppers was sensitive to acceleration whereas the triggering of escape behaviours was less so. In contrast, neurons in goldfish identified through the characteristic features of the escape behaviours they trigger, showed little sensitivity to acceleration. This closely mirrored a broader lack of sensitivity to acceleration of the goldfish escape behaviour. Thus, although the sensory coding of simulated colliding stimuli with non-zero acceleration probably differs in grasshoppers and goldfish, the triggering of escape behaviours converges towards similar characteristics. Approaching stimuli with non-zero acceleration may help refine our understanding of neural computations underlying escape behaviours in a broad range of animal species.

Files

Steps to reproduce

For details of experiments see Methods section of "Convergent escape behaviour from distinct visual processing of impending collision in fish and grasshoppers" in the Journal of Physiology (2023). DOI: 10.1113/JP284022.

Institutions

Hunter College, Baylor College of Medicine

Categories

Physiology, Neuroscience, Animal Behavior

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