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Current Opinion in Neurobiology Apr 2012Escape behaviors are, by necessity, fast and robust, making them excellent systems with which to study the neural basis of behavior. This is especially true in insects,... (Review)
Review
Escape behaviors are, by necessity, fast and robust, making them excellent systems with which to study the neural basis of behavior. This is especially true in insects, which have comparatively tractable nervous systems and members who are amenable to manipulation with genetic tools. Recent technical developments in high-speed video reveal that, despite their short duration, insect escape behaviors are more complex than previously appreciated. For example, before initiating an escape jump, a fly performs sophisticated posture and stimulus-dependent preparatory leg movements that enable it to jump away from a looming threat. This newfound flexibility raises the question of how the nervous system generates a behavior that is both rapid and flexible. Recordings from the cricket nervous system suggest that synchrony between the activity of specific interneuron pairs may provide a rapid cue for the cricket to detect the direction of an approaching predator and thus which direction it should run. Technical advances make possible wireless recording from neurons while locusts escape from a looming threat, enabling, for the first time, a direct correlation between the activity of multiple neurons and the time-course of an insect escape behavior.
Topics: Animals; Escape Reaction; Ethology; Insecta; Neural Pathways; Neurology; Neurons
PubMed: 22226514
DOI: 10.1016/j.conb.2011.12.009 -
Current Opinion in Neurobiology Dec 2016Neural circuits mediating visually evoked escape behaviors are promising systems in which to dissect the neural basis of behavior. Behavioral responses to predator-like... (Review)
Review
Neural circuits mediating visually evoked escape behaviors are promising systems in which to dissect the neural basis of behavior. Behavioral responses to predator-like looming stimuli, and their underlying neural computations, are remarkably similar across species. Recently, genetic tools have been applied in this classical paradigm, revealing novel non-cortical pathways that connect loom processing to defensive behaviors in mammals and demonstrating that loom encoding models from locusts also fit vertebrate neural responses. In both invertebrates and vertebrates, relative spike-timing in descending pathways is a mechanism for escape behavior choice. Current findings suggest that experimentally tractable systems, such as Drosophila, may be applicable models for sensorimotor processing and persistent states in higher organisms.
Topics: Animals; Drosophila; Escape Reaction; Physiological Phenomena
PubMed: 27710794
DOI: 10.1016/j.conb.2016.09.012 -
The Journal of Experimental Biology Sep 2019The study of fish escape responses has provided important insights into the accelerative motions and fast response times of these animals. In addition, the accessibility... (Review)
Review
The study of fish escape responses has provided important insights into the accelerative motions and fast response times of these animals. In addition, the accessibility of the underlying neural circuits has made the escape response a fundamental model in neurobiology. Fish escape responses were originally viewed as highly stereotypic all-or-none behaviours. However, research on a wide variety of species has shown considerable taxon-specific and context-dependent variability in the kinematics and neural control of escape. In addition, escape-like motions have been reported: these resemble escape responses kinematically, but occur in situations that do not involve a response to a threatening stimulus. This Review focuses on the diversity of escape responses in fish by discussing recent work on: (1) the types of escape responses as defined by kinematic analysis (these include C- and S-starts, and single- versus double-bend responses); (2) the diversity of neuromuscular control; (3) the variability of escape responses in terms of behaviour and kinematics within the context of predator-prey interactions; and (4) the main escape-like motions observed in various species. Here, we aim to integrate recent knowledge on escape responses and highlight rich areas for research. Rapidly developing approaches for studying the kinematics of swimming motion both in the lab and within the natural environment provide new avenues for research on these critical and common behaviours.
Topics: Animals; Biomechanical Phenomena; Escape Reaction; Fishes; Neurons; Predatory Behavior; Swimming
PubMed: 31534015
DOI: 10.1242/jeb.166009 -
PLoS Computational Biology Jan 2022Bird flocks under predation demonstrate complex patterns of collective escape. These patterns may emerge by self-organization from local interactions among...
Bird flocks under predation demonstrate complex patterns of collective escape. These patterns may emerge by self-organization from local interactions among group-members. Computational models have been shown to be valuable for identifying what behavioral rules may govern such interactions among individuals during collective motion. However, our knowledge of such rules for collective escape is limited by the lack of quantitative data on bird flocks under predation in the field. In the present study, we analyze the first GPS trajectories of pigeons in airborne flocks attacked by a robotic falcon in order to build a species-specific model of collective escape. We use our model to examine a recently identified distance-dependent pattern of collective behavior: the closer the prey is to the predator, the higher the frequency with which flock members turn away from it. We first extract from the empirical data of pigeon flocks the characteristics of their shape and internal structure (bearing angle and distance to nearest neighbors). Combining these with information on their coordination from the literature, we build an agent-based model adjusted to pigeons' collective escape. We show that the pattern of turning away from the predator with increased frequency when the predator is closer arises without prey prioritizing escape when the predator is near. Instead, it emerges through self-organization from a behavioral rule to avoid the predator independently of their distance to it. During this self-organization process, we show how flock members increase their consensus over which direction to escape and turn collectively as the predator gets closer. Our results suggest that coordination among flock members, combined with simple escape rules, reduces the cognitive costs of tracking the predator while flocking. Such escape rules that are independent of the distance to the predator can now be investigated in other species. Our study showcases the important role of computational models in the interpretation of empirical findings of collective behavior.
Topics: Animals; Columbidae; Computational Biology; Computer Simulation; Escape Reaction; Mass Behavior; Species Specificity
PubMed: 35007287
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009772 -
Current Opinion in Neurobiology Apr 2012Escape behaviors are crucial to survive predator encounters. Touch to the head of Caenorhabditis elegans induces an escape response where the animal rapidly backs away... (Review)
Review
Escape behaviors are crucial to survive predator encounters. Touch to the head of Caenorhabditis elegans induces an escape response where the animal rapidly backs away from the stimulus and suppresses foraging head movements. The coordination of head and body movements facilitates escape from predacious fungi that cohabitate with nematodes in organic debris. An appreciation of the natural habitat of laboratory organisms, like C. elegans, enables a comprehensive neuroethological analysis of behavior. In this review we discuss the neuronal mechanisms and the ecological significance of the C. elegans touch response.
Topics: Animals; Caenorhabditis elegans; Escape Reaction; Ethology; Neural Pathways; Neurology
PubMed: 22226513
DOI: 10.1016/j.conb.2011.12.007 -
Current Biology : CB Jul 2022In many instances, external sensory-evoked neuronal activity is used by the brain to select the most appropriate behavioral response. Predator-avoidance behaviors such...
In many instances, external sensory-evoked neuronal activity is used by the brain to select the most appropriate behavioral response. Predator-avoidance behaviors such as freezing and escape are of particular interest since these stimulus-evoked responses are behavioral manifestations of a decision-making process that is fundamental to survival. Over the lifespan of an individual, however, the threat value of agents in the environment is believed to undergo constant revision, and in some cases, repeated avoidance of certain stimuli may no longer be an optimal behavioral strategy. To begin to study this type of adaptive control of decision-making, we devised an experimental paradigm to probe the properties of threat escape in the laboratory mouse Mus musculus. First, we found that while robust escape to visual looming stimuli can be observed after 2 days of social isolation, mice can also rapidly learn that such stimuli are non-threatening. This learned suppression of escape (LSE) is extremely robust and can persist for weeks and is not a generalized adaptation, since flight responses to novel live prey and auditory threat stimuli in the same environmental context were maintained. We also show that LSE cannot be explained by trial number or a simple form of stimulus desensitization since it is dependent on threat-escape history. We propose that the action selection process mediating escape behavior is constantly updated by recent threat history and that LSE can be used as a robust model system to understand the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying experience-dependent decision-making.
Topics: Animals; Avoidance Learning; Brain; Escape Reaction; Mice
PubMed: 35659863
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.05.022 -
Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews Sep 2008
Topics: Adaptation, Psychological; Animals; Avoidance Learning; Conditioning, Psychological; Escape Reaction; Humans; Odorants; Smell
PubMed: 18674558
DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2008.07.003 -
Scientific American Mar 2010
Topics: Animals; Escape Reaction; Moles; Oligochaeta; Predatory Behavior; Rain; Vibration
PubMed: 20184186
DOI: 10.1038/scientificamerican0310-72 -
The Journal of Experimental Biology Jan 2000The mantis shrimp Squilla mantis shows a graded series of avoidance/escape responses to visual and mechanical (vibration and touch) rostral stimuli. A low-threshold...
The mantis shrimp Squilla mantis shows a graded series of avoidance/escape responses to visual and mechanical (vibration and touch) rostral stimuli. A low-threshold response is mediated by the simultaneous protraction of the thoracic walking legs and abdominal swimmerets and telson, producing a backwards 'lurch' or jump that can displace the animal by up to one-third of its body length, but leaves it facing in the same direction. A stronger response starts with similar limb protraction, but is followed by partial abdominal flexion. The maximal response also consists of limb protraction followed by abdominal flexion, but in this case the abdominal flexion is sufficiently vigorous to pull the animal into a tight vertical loop, which leaves it inverted and facing away from the stimulus. The animal then swims forward (away from the stimulus) and rights itself by executing a half-roll. A bilaterally paired, large-diameter, rapidly conducting axon in the dorsal region of the ventral nerve excites swimmeret protractor motoneurons in several ganglia and is likely to be the driver neuron for the limb-protraction response. The same neuron also excites unidentified abdominal trunk motoneurons, but less reliably. The escape response is a key feature of the malacostracan caridoid facies, and we provide the first detailed description of this response in a group that diverged early in malacostracan evolution. We show that the components of the escape response contrast strongly with those of the full caridoid reaction, and we provide physiological and behavioural evidence for the biological plausibility of a limb-before-tail thesis for the evolution of the escape response.
Topics: Animals; Biological Evolution; Crustacea; Escape Reaction; Extremities; Ganglia, Invertebrate; Tail
PubMed: 10607528
DOI: 10.1242/jeb.203.2.183 -
The Journal of Experimental Biology May 2024Identifying the kinematic and behavioral variables of prey that influence evasion from predator attacks remains challenging. To address this challenge, we have developed...
Identifying the kinematic and behavioral variables of prey that influence evasion from predator attacks remains challenging. To address this challenge, we have developed an automated escape system that responds quickly to an approaching predator and pulls the prey away from the predator rapidly, similar to real prey. Reaction distance, response latency, escape speed and other variables can be adjusted in the system. By repeatedly measuring the response latency and escape speed of the system, we demonstrated the system's ability to exhibit fast and rapid responses while maintaining consistency across successive trials. Using the live predatory fish species Coreoperca kawamebari, we show that escape speed and reaction distance significantly affect the outcome of predator-prey interactions. These findings indicate that the developed escape system is useful for identifying kinematic and behavioral features of prey that are critical for predator evasion, as well as for measuring the performance of predators.
Topics: Animals; Escape Reaction; Biomechanical Phenomena; Predatory Behavior; Automation; Reaction Time
PubMed: 38690629
DOI: 10.1242/jeb.246772