Object discrimination through active electrolocation: Shape recognition and the influence of electrical noise

Publication date: Available online 12 December 2016 Source:Journal of Physiology-Paris Author(s): Sarah Schumacher, Theresa Burt de Perera, Gerhard von der Emde The weakly electric fish Gnathonemus petersii can recognise objects using active electrolocation. Here, we tested two aspects of object recognition; first whether shape recognition might be influenced by movement of the fish, and second whether object discrimination is affected by the presence of electrical noise from conspecifics. (i) Unlike other object features, such as size or volume, no parameter within a single electrical image has been found that encodes object shape. We investigated whether shape recognition might be facilitated by movement-induced modulations (MIM) of the set of electrical images that are created as a fish swims past an object. Fish were trained to discriminate between pairs of objects that either created similar or dissimilar levels of MIM of the electrical images. As predicted, the fish were able to discriminate between objects up to a longer distance if there was a large difference in MIM between the objects than if there was a small difference. This supports an involvement of MIMs in shape recognition but the use of other cues cannot be excluded. (ii) Electrical noise might impair object recognition if the noise signals overlap with the EODs of an electrolocating fish. To avoid jamming, we predicted that fish might employ pulsing strategies to prevent overlaps. To investigate the inf...

Source: Journal of Physiology Paris - December 11, 2016 Category: Physiology Source Type: research