Robust prey detection in a small nervous system.

Abstract

Vision plays a huge role for us humans, as well as for many other animals. If you have ever tried to walk in a straight line with your eyes closed, you know how important self-generated optic flow is for maintaining a straight trajectory. Besides such widefield optic flow cues, we can also visualize the motion of objects that move independently of the remaining visual surround. Such targets may represent the motion of a ball during a game of cricket, tennis, or baseball (take your pick, depending on your cultural heritage and location in the world). Despite the fact that you are moving, and thereby generating optic flow across your visual field, you can still visualize and indentify the independent trajectory of the ball. Motion vision is not only important for human sports stars (1), but also for insects who use these cues for tasks such as maintaining a straight flight trajectory (2), avoiding colliding with approaching tree trunks, and, importantly, identifying targets such as potential prey (3), the subject of a paper published in PNAS (4).