Collaborative Research: Navigation and the Neural Integration of Multimodal Sensory Information in the Brain of an Arthropod

许多动物在环境中导航的能力远远超过人类在没有技术帮助的情况下所能做到的。卓越的导航能力并不局限于像鸟类和哺乳动物这样的大脑袋动物。它也可以在神经系统简单的动物身上发现。热带两栖动物，一种类似蝎子的动物，能够在夜间穿过茂密的热带森林下层植被找到回家的路。研究跛足动物在解决导航问题时如何处理不同类型的感觉信息（视觉、化学、触觉），可以揭示简单神经系统的基本设计特性，这些特性在某种程度上能够控制复杂的学习行为。这些设计特性可以激发适用于机器人和人工智能系统的工程解决方案。魅力热带弱肢动物的研究也为教师提供了一个诱人的门户，向K-12学生介绍神经科学对于理解生物体如何从环境中获取和处理信息以及这些信息如何影响学习和记忆的重要性。为了支持与K-12学生、教师和公众的互动，这项资助支持的研究人员将开发基于英语和西班牙语的互联网教育材料。通过进行行为实验来评估跛足动物（假parvulus）在离家避难后的运动，研究人员将评估视觉、化学和机械信息在支持导航中的相对重要性。这些实验将涉及操纵动物的感觉器官或环境中的感觉线索。神经生物学的工作将集中在一个被称为“蘑菇体”的大脑区域，该区域被认为支持空间记忆。在进行行为研究的同时，研究人员还将探索将不同感官刺激的信息发送到蘑菇体的神经系统途径。将特别关注蘑菇体如何“工程”或“整合”不同的感官输入。感官输入的整合被认为是支持复杂导航所必需的，并且可能在复杂人工系统的设计中具有应用潜力。最后，除了使用蘑菇体受损的动物外，蘑菇体在导航中的重要性以及它们结合不同感官信息来源的能力将在上述行为实验的相同条件下进行测试。

The ability of many animals to navigate through their environment far exceeds what humans are able to do without the help of technology. Exceptional navigation is not limited to animals with large brains, like birds and mammals. It can also be found in animals with simpler nervous systems. The tropical amblypygid, a scorpion-like animal, is able to find its way home at night through dense, tropical forest understory. The study of how different types of sensory information (visual, chemical, tactile) are processed by amblypygids as they solve navigation problems can reveal fundamental design properties of simple nervous systems that are somehow capable of controlling complex, learned behavior. These design properties can inspire engineering solutions applicable to robotic and artificial intelligence systems. The study of charismatic tropical amblypygids also serves as an alluring gateway for teachers to introduce K-12 students to the importance of neuroscience for understanding how organisms acquire and process information from their environment and how this information influences learning and memory. To support engagement with K-12 students, their teachers and the general public, researchers supported by this grant will develop internet-based educational materials in both English and Spanish. By conducting behavioral experiments that assess amblypygid (Phrynus pseudoparvulus) movements after displacement from a home refuge, researchers will assess the relative importance of visual, chemical and mechanical information in supporting navigation. These experiments will either involve manipulation of animal sense organs or the sensory cues in their environment. The neurobiological work will focus on a brain area known as "mushroom bodies", which are thought to support spatial memory. In parallel with the behavioral work, researchers will explore the nervous system routes by which information from different sensory stimuli is sent to the mushroom bodies. Particular attention will be given to how the mushroom bodies "engineer" or "integrate" the different sensory inputs. The integration of sensory inputs is hypothesized to be necessary to support complex navigation and will likely have applied potential for design of sophisticated artificial systems. Finally, the importance of the mushroom bodies in navigation, and their capacity to combine different sources of sensory information, will be tested under the same conditions of the behavioral experiments noted above, except using animals whose mushroom bodies are impaired.