9 - Decision-making in the insect nervous system: a model for selection and maintenance of motor programmes

Abstract

This chapter presents a decision-making model system for the selection and maintenance of motor programs. In this model, the selection of an appropriate output is a function distributed over the whole nervous system. A particular behavior occurs as a result of the balance of activities in different parts of the nervous system at any instant. The decision-making model considers the motor system as several interconnected stations, which approximate to brain, suboesophageal ganglion, and segmental ganglia in the locust. Each station contains the networks that generate the output of the station. The three basic principles that determine the model are across-fiber patterns, consensus, and interconnections in loops. These principles offer tools for analyzing the operations of circular systems, taking the dynamics and flexibility of behavior into account. This model is useful in analyzing the functions of various molluscan networks and is able to simulate learning and memory. It provides a powerful tool for the formal modeling of a motor function that is now essential for a deeper understanding of the operating principles involved in motor control.