Behavioral and neural basis of instinctive behavior in insects: Odor-source searching strategies without memory and learning

Abstract

Abstract Insects have rather a small number of constituent neurons of the central nervous system (CNS), especially of the brain, and eventually display rather simple patterned movements; a so-called ‘instinctive behavior’, which principally does occur without memory and learning. The diversity of behaviors observed in insects have been shaped by millions of years of biological evolution. The behavioral strategies employed by insects must be efficient and adaptive to circumstances which change every moment. Controlling such behavior exclusively relies on the CNS of the insects. Insects will become an excellent model for understanding adaptive control in biological system which will inspire the control and communication in engineered systems, especially in robotics. As an example of that, in the present study we demonstrate the strategies and the neural basis for controlling the odor-source searching behavior in insects.