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The Journal of Neuroscience, February 8, 2006, 26(6):1704-1710; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4315-05.2006

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Behavioral/Systems/Cognitive
Steering by Hearing: A Bat’s Acoustic Gaze Is Linked to Its Flight Motor Output by a Delayed, Adaptive Linear Law

Kaushik Ghose^1,2 and Cynthia F. Moss^1,2,3

¹Neuroscience and Cognitive Science Program, ²Department of Psychology, and ³Institute for Systems Research, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742

Correspondence should be addressed to Kaushik Ghose, Department Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742. Email: kaushik.ghose{at}gmail.com

Adaptive behaviors require sensorimotor computations that convert information represented initially in sensory coordinates to commands for action in motor coordinates. Fundamental to these computations is the relationship between the region of the environment sensed by the animal (gaze) and the animal’s locomotor plan. Studies of visually guided animals have revealed an anticipatory relationship between gaze direction and the locomotor plan during target-directed locomotion. Here, we study an acoustically guided animal, an echolocating bat, and relate acoustic gaze (direction of the sonar beam) to flight planning as the bat searches for and intercepts insect prey. We show differences in the relationship between gaze and locomotion as the bat progresses through different phases of insect pursuit. We define acoustic gaze angle, _gaze, to be the angle between the sonar beam axis and the bat’s flight path. We show that there is a strong linear linkage between acoustic gaze angle at time t [_gaze(t)] and flight turn rate at time t + into the future [ _flight (t + )], which can be expressed by the formula _flight (t + ) = k_gaze(t). The gain, k, of this linkage depends on the bat’s behavioral state, which is indexed by its sonar pulse rate. For high pulse rates, associated with insect attacking behavior, k is twice as high compared with low pulse rates, associated with searching behavior. We suggest that this adjustable linkage between acoustic gaze and motor output in a flying echolocating bat simplifies the transformation of auditory information to flight motor commands.

Key words: echolocation; flight; bat; locomotion; sensorimotor control; computation

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Received Oct. 10, 2005; revised Dec. 15, 2005; accepted Dec. 27, 2005.

Correspondence should be addressed to Kaushik Ghose, Department Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742. Email: kaushik.ghose{at}gmail.com

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M. W. Holderied, C. J. Baker, M. Vespe, and G. Jones Understanding signal design during the pursuit of aerial insects by echolocating bats: tools and applications Integr. Comp. Biol., July 1, 2008; 48(1): 74 - 84. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				N. Ulanovsky and C. F. Moss What the bat's voice tells the bat's brain PNAS, June 24, 2008; 105(25): 8491 - 8498. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				N. J. Cowan and E. S. Fortune The Critical Role of Locomotion Mechanics in Decoding Sensory Systems J. Neurosci., January 31, 2007; 27(5): 1123 - 1128. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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