A neuronal circuitry for relative movement discrimination by the visual system of the fly

We propose the basic structure of a neuronal circuitry possibly underlying the detection of discontinuities in the optical flow by the visual system of the housefly. The main features of the circuitry are: binocular cells summate elementary movement detectors over a large visual field and inhibit each one of them; inhibition is of the shunting type, with an inhibitory equilibrium potential very near the resting potential. A specific model implementing our proposal accounts for all the behavioral data on relative movement discrimination, including the characteristic dynamics of the response.

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