PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Xuelong Sun
AU  - Shigang Yue
AU  - Michael Mangan
TI  - A Decentralised Neural Model Explaining Optimal Integration Of Navigational Strategies in Insects
AID  - 10.1101/856153
DP  - 2020 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 856153
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/03/05/856153.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/03/05/856153.full
AB  - Robust insect navigation arises from the coordinated action of concurrent guidance systems but the neural mechanisms through which they function, and are coordinated, remain unknown. Our analysis suggests that insects require distinct visual homing and route following strategies which we propose use different aspects of frequency encoded views and different neural pathways: Mushroom Bodies for visual homing and Anterior Optic Tubercles for route following. We then demonstrate how the Central Complex and Mushroom Bodies work in tandem to coordinate the directional output of different guidance cues through contextually switched ring-attractor circuits inspired by neural recordings. The resultant unified model of insect navigation reproduces behavioral data from a series of cue conflict experiments in realistic animal environments and offers testable hypotheses of where and how insect process visual cues, utilise the different information provided and coordinate their outputs to achieve the adaptive behaviours observed in the wild.