How do frogs perceive stationary objects?

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How do frogs perceive stationary objects?

• Laura Skorina

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• Why stationary objects?
• Visually mediated frog behaviors
• Looming -gt Avoid
• Prey -gt Approach
• Navigation -gt Know where (and where not) to
  move to

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The frog brain
But if you take out the tectum
Modular organization of visual processing
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• Three-pronged approach
• Behavioral
• Disconnection studies - take out part of brain
• Physiological
• Record electrical activity of neurons
• Anatomical
• Map out neural connections with tracers

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• Behavior
• Disconnect region of dorsal anterior thalamus
• Frog responds to prey and looming stimuli
• Frog bumps into barriers

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• Physiology
• Record from neurons in dorsal anterior thalamus
• while presenting stimuli relevant to
  stationary object perception

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• Anatomy tracing connections
• Horseradish peroxidase retrograde/anterograde
  axonal transport

• So far, HRP has revealed projections to
• Lateral Forebrain Bundle?
• Contralateral DAT
• Bilateral pretectum

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