Wang Y, Frost B J
Department of Physiology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
Nature. 1992 Mar 19;356(6366):236-8. doi: 10.1038/356236a0.
Throughout the animal kingdom, the sight of a rapidly approaching object usually signals danger and elicits an escape response. Gibson suggested that the symmetrical expansion of an object's image (looming) is the critical variable determining that the object is on a collision course with the observer. Similarly, large expanding flow-fields like those produced by locomotion may precipitate manoeuvres such as turning or landing. From such observations it has been shown that the optic flow parameter, tau, which specifies time to contact with the approaching object best fits the behavioural data. We describe a subpopulation of neurons in the nucleus rotundus of the pigeon brain that respond selectively to objects moving on a collision course towards the bird.
在整个动物界，快速靠近的物体通常意味着危险，并引发逃避反应。吉布森认为，物体图像的对称扩展（逼近）是决定该物体与观察者处于碰撞路线的关键变量。同样，像运动产生的那样大的扩展流场可能促使诸如转弯或着陆等动作。从这些观察结果表明，指定与接近物体接触时间的视觉流参数tau最符合行为数据。我们描述了鸽脑圆核中的一群神经元，它们对朝着鸟类沿碰撞路线移动的物体有选择性地做出反应。
