title: Direct Measurement of Correlation Responses in Drosophila Elementary Motion Detectors Reveals Fast Timescale Tuning.
abstract: Animals estimate visual motion by integrating light intensity information over time and space. The integration requires nonlinear processing, which makes motion estimation circuitry sensitive to specific spatiotemporal correlations that signify visual motion. Classical models of motion estimation weight these correlations to produce direction-selective signals. However, the correlational algorithms they describe have not been directly measured in elementary motion-detecting neurons (EMDs). Here, we employed stimuli to directly measure responses to pairwise correlations in Drosophila's EMD neurons, T4 and T5. Activity in these neurons was required for behavioral responses to pairwise correlations and was predictive of those responses. The pattern of neural responses in the EMDs was inconsistent with one classical model of motion detection, and the timescale and selectivity of correlation responses constrained the temporal filtering properties in potential models. These results reveal how neural responses to pairwise correlations drive visual behavior in this canonical motion-detecting circuit.
authors.affiliation: Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA.
authors.forename: Emilio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Salazar-Gatzimas
authors.affiliation: Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA.
authors.forename: Juyue
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA.
authors.forename: Matthew S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Creamer
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA.
authors.forename: Omer
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Mano
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA.
authors.forename: Holly B
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Mandel
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA.
authors.forename: Catherine A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Matulis
authors.affiliation: Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA.
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pottackal
authors.affiliation: Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA; Department of Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA; Department of Physics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA. Electronic address: damon.clark@yale.edu.
authors.forename: Damon A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Clark
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000818:Animals; D004330:Drosophila / Q000502:physiology*; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009039:Motion Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D012399:Rotation; D013997:Time Factors