Two recently published studies of fly behavior provide evidence for sophisticated sensory information processing in insect brains. A study of fruit flies (Drosophila) led by scientists from the University of Sheffield examined the processing of visual information in the brain.1 When attempting to understand information processing in brains, the paradigm has been that scientists, “Often rely on stationarity assumptions and reductionist behaviour or reductionist brain activity analyses.” However, this new research shows that these assumptions are too simplified, and that the processing is much more complex. An important element that enables the enhanced processing involves microsaccades. In humans, these are small involuntary eye movements produced during attempted visual fixation. The eye movements facilitate focusing on objects. In insects such as Read More ›
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