spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


spacer gif
     Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents    

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Kimmerle, B.
Right arrow Articles by Egelhaaf, M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Kimmerle, B.
Right arrow Articles by Egelhaaf, M.

Journal of Experimental Biology, Vol 203, Issue 11 1723-1732, Copyright © 2000 by Company of Biologists

JOURNAL ARTICLES

Object fixation by the blowfly during tethered flight in a simulated three-dimensional environment

B Kimmerle, J Eickermann and M Egelhaaf
Lehrstuhl fur Neurobiologie, Fakultat fur Biologie, Universitat Bielefeld, Postfach 10 01 31, D-33501 Bielefeld, Germany. kimmerle@zedat.fu-berlin.de

The ability of flies to detect and fixate objects moving relative to their background was investigated in a flight simulator during translational tethered flight. The fly experienced optic flow that depended on its own actions and reactions in a similar way as in free-flight (closed-loop) conditions. Fixation of an object required turning responses towards it. The simulated distances between the fly, object and background were varied systematically by changing the velocities with which the object and the background pattern moved from the frontal to the back part of the fly's visual field. Fixation responses were only elicited when the object was simulated to be closer than the background. The fly's fixation performance was better with close than with more distant objects. Since, under many stimulus conditions, fixation responses were either elicited or entirely failed to be elicited, it is concluded that object fixation behaviour is gated in the visuo-motor pathway.




© The Company of Biologists Ltd 2000