Motor state changes escape behavior of crickets

OGAWA Hiroto

Department of Biological Sciences

Jul. 18, 2023

運動状態によるコオロギの気流逃避行動の違い。静止しているコオロギを短い気流で刺激するとすぐに刺激の反対方向へ逃げるが（右）、歩行中に刺激すると必ず一時停止してから逃げる（左）。

Press release (in Japanese)

Highlights
Motor states when stimulated affect cricket wind-elicited escape behavior.
When stimulated during locomotion, crickets quickly stop prior to escape.
Moving crickets are more sensitive to airflow stimuli than stationary ones.
Response delay during moving may be compensated by the high sensitivity.

Summary
Animals change their behavior depending on external circumstances, internal factors, and their interactions. Locomotion state is a crucial internal factor that profoundly affects sensory perception and behavior. However, studying the behavioral impacts of locomotion state in free-moving animals has been challenging due to difficulty of reproducing quantitatively-identical stimuli in freely moving animals. We utilized a closed-loop controlled servosphere treadmill system, enabling unrestricted confinement and orientation of small animals, and …

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Article Information:
Kiuchi, K., Shidara, H., Iwatani, Y., Ogawa, H., Motor state changes escape
behavior of crickets, ISCIENCE (2023), doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2023.107345.