PROPRIOCEPTIVE CONTRIBUTION TO DISTANCE ESTIMATION BY MOTION PARALLAXIN A PRAYING MANTID

The behavioural experiments described here examined, in the praying ma ntis Tenodera sinensis, the manner in which the proprioceptive cervica l hair plate sensilla are involved in the measurement of the distance to a jump target with the aid of motion parallax actively produced by translatory head motion. Various combinations of surgical deafferentat ion of the cervical hair plate sensilla had no influence on the linear isation of head motion. However, the measurement of relative and absol ute distance and the jump frequency were impaired by these interventio ns. From the results, it is concluded that the cervical hair plate sen silla are involved in the distance measurement mechanism, probably by allowing the nervous system to compare retinal image motion with head motion.