Abstract
HONEYBEES remember the shapes of flowers and are guided by visual landmarks on their foraging trips1,2. How insects recognize visual patterns is poorly understood. Experiments suggest that they try to match retinotopically the incoming visual pattern with a previously stored memory image2–7. But bees can be conditioned to individual pattern parameters such as orientation of contours, colour or size2,8–11. These and other results are difficult to reconcile with simple template matching. In such investigations, freely moving animals are observed; their behaviour and visual input, therefore, are not well known. Mostly, processing strategies are inferred from stimulus design. We have studied visual pattern recognition with tethered flies (Drosophila melanogaster) in a flight simulator and report here that flies store visual images at, or together with, fixed retinal positions and can retrieve them from there only5. Position invariance, an acknowledged property of human pattern recognition, may not exist as a primary mechanism in insects.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Rent or buy this article
Prices vary by article type
from$1.95
to$39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Tinbergen, N. Z. vergl. Physiol. 15, 305–334 (1932).
Wehner, R. in Handbook of Sensory Physiology Vol. VII/6C (ed. Autrum, H. J.) (Springer, Berlin, 1981).
Wehner, R. J. comp. Physiol. 77, 256–277 (1972).
Cartwright, B. A. & Collett, T. S. Nature 295, 560–564 (1982).
Cartwright, B. A. & Collett, T. S. J. comp. Physiol. A151, 521–543 (1983).
Gould, J. L. Science 227, 1492–1494 (1985).
Collett, T. S. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B337, 295–303 (1992).
Ronacher, B. Biol. Cybern. 32, 63–75 (1979).
van Hateren, J. H., Srinivasan, M. V. & Wait, P. B. J. comp. Physiol. A167, 649–654 (1990).
Horridge, G. A., Zhang, S. W. & Lehrer, M. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B337, 49–57 (1992).
Zhang, S. W., Srinivasan, M. V. & Horridge, G. A. Proc. R. Soc. B248, 55–61 (1992).
Heisenberg, M. & Wolf, R. in Visual Motion and its Role in the Stabilization of Gaze (eds Miles, F. A. & Wallmann, J.) 265–283 (Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1993).
Wolf, R. & Heisenberg, M. J. comp. Physiol. A169, 699–705 (1991).
Götz, K. G. Kybernetik 2, 215–221 (1965).
Buchner, E. Biol. Cybern. 24, 85–101 (1976).
Cronly-Dillon, J. R., Sutherland, N. S. & Wolfe, J. J. exp. Neurol. 15, 455–462 (1966).
Myers, R. E. J. comp. Physiol. Psychol. 48, 470–473 (1955).
Ramachandran, V. S. Nature 262, 382–384 (1976).
Karni, A. & Sagi, D. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 88, 4966–4970 (1991).
O'Carroll, D. Nature 362, 541–543 (1993).
Srinivasan, M. V., Zhang, S. W. & Rolfe, B. Nature 362, 539–540 (1993).
Heisenberg, M. & Wolf, R. J. comp. Physiol. A163, 373–388 (1988).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Dill, M., Wolf, R. & Heisenberg, M. Visual pattern recognition in Drosophila involves retinotopic matching. Nature 365, 751–753 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1038/365751a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/365751a0
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.
