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The Journal of Neuroscience, December 15, 2002, 22(24):11045-11054
Evidence for Sequential Decision Making in the Medicinal Leech
Teresa Esch1, Karen A. Mesce2, and William B. Kristan1 1 Section of Neurobiology, Division of Biological Science, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, and 2 Departments of Entomology and Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota 55108
Decision making can be a complex task involving a sequence of subdecisions. For example, we decide to pursue a goal (e.g., get something to eat), then decide how to accomplish that goal (e.g., go to a restaurant), and then make a sequence of more specific plans (e.g., which restaurant to go to, how to get there, what to order, etc.). In characterizing the effects of stimulating individual brain neurons in the isolated nervous system of the leech Hirudo medicinalis, we have found evidence that leeches also make decisions sequentially. In this study, we describe a pair of interneurons that elicited locomotory motor programs, either swimming or crawling, in isolated nerve cords. In semi-intact animals, stimulating the same neurons also produced either swimming or crawling, and which behavior was produced could be controlled experimentally by manipulating the depth of saline around the intact part of the leech. These same neurons were excited and fired strongly when swimming or crawling occurred spontaneously or in response to mechanosensory stimulation. We conclude that these brain interneurons help to decide on locomotion (i.e., they are "locomotory command-like neurons") and that the ultimate behavior is determined downstream, in a part of the decision-making hierarchy that monitors stimuli related to the depth of fluid surrounding the leech.
Key words: choice behavior; leeches; neural circuits; motor patterns; multifunctional neurons; locomotion
Copyright © 2002 Society for Neuroscience 0270-6474/02/222411045-10$05.00/0
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