Abstract
Animals’ self-motion generates a drifting movement of the visual scene in the entire field of view called optic flow. Animals use the sensation of optic flow to estimate their own movements and accordingly adjust their body posture and position and stabilize the direction of gaze. In zebrafish and other vertebrates, optic flow typically drives the optokinetic response (OKR) and optomotor response (OMR). Recent functional imaging studies in larval zebrafish have identified the pretectum as a primary center for optic flow processing. In contrast to the view that the pretectum acts as a relay station of direction-selective retinal inputs, pretectal neurons respond to much more complex visual features relevant to behavior, such as spatially and temporally integrated optic flow information. Furthermore, optic flow signals, as well as motor signals, are represented in the cerebellum in a region-specific manner. Here we review recent findings on the circuit organization that underlies the optic flow processing driving OKR and OMR.
Highlights
When an animal moves in an environment, either actively or passively, its displacement in the space causes its visual field to shift
Detecting such visual information, which is known as whole-field motion or optic flow, is essential for many animals because it serves as a feedback signal that allows them to estimate their own movement relative to the surrounding environment
Significant progress has been made on our understanding of the neural circuits underlying optic flow processing in the larval zebrafish brain
Summary
Edited by: Filippo Del Bene, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), France. Animals’ self-motion generates a drifting movement of the visual scene in the entire field of view called optic flow. Animals use the sensation of optic flow to estimate their own movements and adjust their body posture and position and stabilize the direction of gaze. In zebrafish and other vertebrates, optic flow typically drives the optokinetic response (OKR) and optomotor response (OMR). Recent functional imaging studies in larval zebrafish have identified the pretectum as a primary center for optic flow processing. In contrast to the view that the pretectum acts as a relay station of direction-selective retinal inputs, pretectal neurons respond to much more complex visual features relevant to behavior, such as spatially and temporally integrated optic flow information.
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