A neural coding model for sensory intensity discrimination, to be applied to gustation

Maes, F.W.

doi:10.1007/bf00612643

Cited by 14 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…The critical parameters are the slope of the stimUlus-response curve and the response variance (Maes 1984). Although not all animals may always need it, an ideal sensory system should maintain high resolving powers over a large range of stimulus intensities.…”

Section: General Constraints On Receptorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sensory Biology of Aquatic Animals

McFarland¹,

Atema²,

Fay³

et al. 1988

173

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Section: General Constraints On Receptorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sensory Biology of Aquatic Animals

McFarland¹,

Atema²,

Fay³

et al. 1988

173

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“…A gradient of innate associative strengths may exist between several potential conditioning stimuli and any stimulus that releases a MAP; the strong innate association between a US and MAP release may be one extreme of this associative strength gradient (GOULD & MARLER 1984). The less decisive release of the MAP by a novel stimulus may reflect perceptual similarity of the odorants involved (MAES 1984). Qualitative differences between odorant stimuli used when conditioned or novel odorants were tested may reflect differences in associative strength of the odorants due to generalization among the odorants (SMITH & MENZEL 1989).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Qualitative differences between odorant stimuli used when conditioned or novel odorants were tested may reflect differences in associative strength of the odorants due to generalization among the odorants (SMITH & MENZEL 1989). The less decisive release of the MAP by a novel stimulus may reflect perceptual similarity of the odorants involved (MAES 1984). At another level of explanation, not independent of the first, 'indecisiveness' may reflect an evolved response strategy of the bee in that it is uncertain about the generality of the reward presentation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Analysis of Variability in the Feeding Motor Program of the Honey Bee; the Role of Learning in Releasing a Modal Action Pattern

Smith

Menzel

1989

Ethology

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Sequences of behavior are highly predictable (stereotyped) during some segments and less predictable during transitions between those segments. Statistical characterization of behavior must involve observation of the behavior under different stimulus conditions, which includes how stimuli associated with behavioral releasers come to trigger behavior during learning. For example, the feeding motor program (FMP) of the honey bee Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera: Apidae) during proboscis extension can be divided into three response phases (Rehder 1987). We conditioned honey bees in an olfactory conditioning paradigm with one or several rewarded trials during which an odorant was paired with the sugar‐water unconditioned stimulus (US); the latter elicits proboscis extension and feeding in properly motivated bees. By recording electromyogram activity from one of the muscles that move the proboscis during feeding, we quantified the bees' responses during an unrewarded test with either the conditioned odorant, a different (novel) odorant, or the sugar‐water US. Various parameters of the response phases of the FMP varied in a consistent manner across these experimental treatments, with certain stimuli eliciting stronger, more consistent responses. The different response phases followed one another in time with some variability and statistical uncertainty. For example, the length of an individual licking movement with the glossa was relatively invariant, and may indicate that this parameter can be used to differentiate the FMP into more basic, independent units. Our work shows how learned information may release action patterns in ways slightly different from traditional sign‐stimuli releasers.

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“…There is a limit to the resolving powers of single cells, however. The critical parameters are the slope of the stimUlus-response curve and the response variance (Maes 1984). Some investigators have estimated that single sugar receptor cells of insects may be able to discriminate no more than 3--4 discrete intensity levels (Smith, Bowdan, and Dethier 1983).…”

Section: General Constraints On Receptorsmentioning

confidence: 99%