Correcting Behaviour — a Mechanism to Support Course Stability?

If an insect, millepede or isopod encounters a high obstacle, it turns and runs along the margin. At the end of the obstacle it immediately performs an opposite turn and resumes approximately its previous walking direction. This “correcting behaviour” is very common in animals. It could enable the animal to maintain a nearly straight course although barriers are in its way, even when external orientational cues are missing (Mittelstaedt 1977).