A neural model of electrosensory system making electrolocation of weakly electric fish

摘要

We address the question of how the fish recognizes the location of objects at a given position, independently of the electric properties of objects, although the distorition pattern of electric field is varied depending on the electric property. To know how the electric field generated by fish's electric organ discharge (EOD) is spatially and temporally distorted by resistive and capacitive objects, we calculated the electric field using a reasonable model of fish body. P and T electroreceptors distributed on the fish body surface respond to the amplitude and phase Modulations of EOD, respectively, and propagate their output signals to electrosensory Lateral-line lobe(ELL) and torus semicircular (TS), respectively. As the first step to clarify the Neural mechanism of electrolocation, we made a neural network model of electrosensory system Consisting of electroreceptors, afferent nerves, ELL, and TS, and investigated how the ampli- Tude and phase modulations are encoded in Ell and TS, respectively.