Mechanism for Visual Detection of Small Targets in Insects

Abstract : Specialized Small Target Motion Detector Neurons (STMDs) in the optic lobes of the insect brain respond strongly to moving objects even when these are smaller than the nominal resolution limit of the eye. Many STMDs also respond robustly to small targets against complex stationary or moving backgrounds. In the last decade the Principal Investigators on this project have established the underlying neural machinery of STMD system as an important new model system for computational neuroscience and for bio-inspired models of target tracking. With sponsorship from the US Air Force Office of Scientific Research (Contracts F49620-01-C-0030, FA9550-04-1-0283, and Grants FA9550-09-1-0116 and FA2386-10-1-4114), our research has allowed us to characterize and model key physiological properties that underlie the impressive visual abilities of insects such as predatory dragonflies to discriminate and track small moving targets against cluttered backgrounds, despite poor optical resolution (low pixel count). In the process, we have established a foundational literature on this topic.

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