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A Functionally Equivalent Artificial Neural Network Model of the Prey Orientation Behavior of Waterstriders (Gerridae)
Author(s) -
Snyder Michael R.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
ethology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.739
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1439-0310
pISSN - 0179-1613
DOI - 10.1111/j.1439-0310.1998.tb00069.x
Subject(s) - gerridae , vibration , rotation (mathematics) , biological system , linearity , neuroscience , receptor , biology , orientation (vector space) , physics , acoustics , control theory (sociology) , geometry , computer science , mathematics , artificial intelligence , ecology , heteroptera , biochemistry , quantum mechanics , control (management)
Waterstriders, a family (Heteroptera, Gerridae) of predacious insects, orient toward the source of water surface vibrations. We describe an artificial neural network that simulates a waterstrider's discrete rotational movement towards a prey item and compare the results to published data. A back‐propagation network with six input units, each corresponding to a vibration receptor on a leg of the waterstrider, and two output units corresponding to the elicited angle of rotation, was used. The network was trained with a full complement of receptors to rotate towards the point source of a surface vibration. When the network was tested with all receptors present, a linear relationship was found between the desired and obtained rotational angles. Lesioning of one or two receptors resulted in marked deviation from linearity within the angular range of detection corresponding to that of the amputated receptor(s), while amputation of three receptors resulted in the network rotating contralaterally to all vibrations originating ipsolaterally to the lesioned side. All trials produced results that corresponded qualitatively to published behavioral data.