Project description
Study sheds light on how insects’ neurons process light variations in the environment
The rapid variation of light and shade in natural environments can disrupt vision, a challenge that many animals successfully navigate daily. The ERC-funded DynamicVision project will explore how sensory information is processed within the limited bandwidth of neural circuits. Using nocturnal moths as a model, researchers will investigate the closed-loop nature of animal behaviour, where senses guide movements, which in turn shape sensory input. By designing an innovative imaging system, researchers will quantify the dynamics of visual environments from the moth’s perspective and study how neurons compensate for light variations. Utilising a unique facility for large-scale animal tracking, the team will record flight behaviours with unprecedented precision, providing a coherent framework for studying the neural basis of natural behaviour in dynamic light environments.
Objective
Driving along a tree-lined avenue, we have all experienced how the rapid succession of light and shade disrupts our vision. Such conditions push even synthetic sensors to their limits, but many animals master these challenges on a dailyand nightlybasis. Indeed, a high dynamic range of sensory information is a hallmark of natural environments. Explaining how sensory information is processed with the limited bandwidth in neural circuits is key to a central goal of neuroscience: understanding the neural control of behaviour in natural contexts. This question extends beyond the processing of dynamic input by nervous systems to the closed-loop nature of animal behaviour itself: as senses guide an animals movements, the movements in turn shape the sensory input. It necessitates a paradigm-shift to a holistic approach considering dynamic inputs, neural processing and behavioural strategies in concert. I propose visually-guided flight in nocturnal moths as uniquely suited for approaching this challenge. Probing the system in dim light, when vision operates at its limits, offers straightforward performance readouts for all stages of the control loop. To do so, we will design a novel imaging system to quantify the dynamics of natural visual environments from a flying insects perspective. We will then measure how dynamic tuning adjusts peripheral neurons to compensate for these spatiotemporal light variations, and how they are integrated with movement predictions in motion neurons, to guide flight behaviour. Using a one-of-a-kind facility for large-scale animal tracking, we will record the moths flight behaviour at unprecedented precision to reveal the strategies that optimise sensory acquisition in these challenging light conditions. Combining all stages, this project will provide a coherent framework for studying the neural basis of natural behaviour in dynamic light environmentsusing a unique, ecologically impactful model to close the loop from sensing to acting.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
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Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Call for proposal
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(opens in new window) ERC-2023-STG
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78464 Konstanz
Germany
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