Gaze Strategy in the Free Flying Zebra Finch (Taeniopygia guttata)

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Output type: Journal article

Author list: Eckmeier D, Geurten BRH, Kress D, Mertes M, Kern R, Egelhaaf M, Bischof HJ

Publisher: Public Library of Science

Publication year: 2008

Journal: PLoS ONE (1932-6203)

Journal acronym: PLOS ONE

Volume number: 3

Issue number: 12

ISSN: 1932-6203

eISSN: 1932-6203

Languages: English-Great Britain (EN-GB)

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Open access status: gold

Full text URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0003956&type=printable

Abstract

Fast moving animals depend on cues derived from the optic flow on their retina. Optic flow from translational locomotion includes information about the three-dimensional composition of the environment, while optic flow experienced during a rotational self motion does not. Thus, a saccadic gaze strategy that segregates rotations from translational movements during locomotion will facilitate extraction of spatial information from the visual input. We analysed whether birds use such a strategy by highspeed video recording zebra finches from two directions during an obstacle avoidance task. Each frame of the recording was examined to derive position and orientation of the beak in three-dimensional space. The data show that in all flights the head orientation was shifted in a saccadic fashion and was kept straight between saccades. Therefore, birds use a gaze strategy that actively stabilizes their gaze during translation to simplify optic flow based navigation. This is the first evidence of birds actively optimizing optic flow during flight.

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