此前研究表明,，昆蟲大多靠觸角等器官憑“感覺”行走或飛行,，依靠視覺引導(dǎo)行走對(duì)于腦部較小的昆蟲來說似乎過于高級(jí),。一項(xiàng)新研究發(fā)現(xiàn),，蝗蟲并不是靠“感覺”走路,，而是依靠“視覺”精確定位自己的每一步,，這表明人類可能低估了蝗蟲的視覺導(dǎo)向系統(tǒng)。
英國(guó)劍橋大學(xué)的研究人員在《現(xiàn)代生物學(xué)》雜志上發(fā)表論文說,，他們做了一系列實(shí)驗(yàn),，讓蝗蟲爬梯子，并用高速攝像機(jī)拍攝,，結(jié)果捕捉到蝗蟲的每一次絆倒和失足情況,。他們還觀察了涂黑蝗蟲一只眼、去除它們觸角或前腿傳感器,、拆掉梯子中間一根橫檔后蝗蟲的走路方式,。
觀察表明，蝗蟲通過視覺引導(dǎo)行走的方式與人類類似,，不過在形式上要簡(jiǎn)單一些,。尼文說，這說明蝗蟲也具有一定水平的大腦視覺處理能力,。
研究結(jié)果還表明,，與人類兩眼并用的視覺能力相比，蝗蟲僅能依靠單眼視覺來控制與該眼同側(cè)的腿部運(yùn)動(dòng),?；认x在提腿前就確定好了落腳的位置，這一點(diǎn)也與人類不同,，如果中途發(fā)生意外,，它們就會(huì)失足踩空，而人類在邁出腳步時(shí)會(huì)防備意外的危險(xiǎn),，并在必要時(shí)作出調(diào)整,。
研究人員指出，這項(xiàng)研究揭示了昆蟲是如何利用較少的神經(jīng)細(xì)胞,、很可能是較為簡(jiǎn)單的機(jī)制,，來實(shí)現(xiàn)類似于人類或貓這樣的脊椎動(dòng)物的行走能力。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原始出處：
Current Biology, 24 December 2009 doi:10.1016/j.cub.2009.10.079
Visual Targeting of Forelimbs in Ladder-Walking Locusts
Jeremy E. Niven1, 2, , , Christian J. Buckingham1, Sheila Lumley1, Matthew F. Cuttle3 and Simon B. Laughlin1
1 Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK
2 Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado Postal 0843-03092, Panamá, República de Panamá
3 School of Biological Sciences, University of Southampton, Bassett Crescent East, Southampton SO16 7PX, UK
Accurate limb placement helps animals and robots to walk on substrates that are uneven or contain gaps. Visual information is important in controlling limb placement in walking mammals [1–4,1–4,1–4,1–4] but has received little attention in insects [5–7,5–7,5–7]. We investigated whether desert locusts walking along a horizontal ladder use vision to control limb placement. High-speed video analysis showed that locusts targeted their front legs to specific rungs in the absence of any previous contact, suggesting that visual information alone is sufficient for targeting single steps. Comparison between the proportions of missed steps before and after monocular occlusion showed that monocular visual information was used to place the ipsilateral but not the contralateral front leg. Accurate placement also depended upon mechanosensory inputs from the antennae and proprioceptive feedback from the ipsilateral but not the contralateral forelimb. Locusts also compensated for the loss of inputs to one eye by altering their stepping pattern. Changing the rung position after initiation of a step showed that targeting of the front leg depends on visual information acquired before but not during a step. The trajectory was only modified after missing the rung. Our data show that locusts walking in environments where footholds are limited use visual and mechanosensory information to place their front legs.
