Department of Biology and Institute of Neuroscience, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA.
Department of Biology and Institute of Neuroscience, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA.
Curr Biol. 2023 Oct 23;33(20):R1106-R1118. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.08.093.
Coleoid cephalopods (octopuses, squids and cuttlefishes) are the only branch of the animal kingdom outside of vertebrates to have evolved both a large brain and camera-type eyes. They are highly dependent on vision, with the majority of their brain devoted to visual processing. Their excellent vision supports a range of advanced visually guided behaviors, from navigation and prey capture, to the ability to camouflage based on their surroundings. However, their brain organization is radically different from that of vertebrates, as well as other invertebrates, providing a unique opportunity to explore how a novel neural architecture for vision is organized and functions. Relatively few studies have examined the cephalopod visual system using current neuroscience approaches, to the extent that there has not even been a measurement of single-cell receptive fields in their central visual system. Therefore, there remains a tremendous amount that is unknown about the neural basis of vision in these extraordinary animals. Here, we review the existing knowledge of the organization and function of the cephalopod visual system to provide a framework for examining the neural circuits and computational mechanisms mediating their remarkable visual capabilities.
头足类软体动物（章鱼、鱿鱼和乌贼）是动物界中除脊椎动物以外唯一进化出大型大脑和相机式眼睛的分支。它们高度依赖视觉，大脑的大部分用于视觉处理。它们出色的视觉支持了一系列先进的视觉引导行为，从导航和捕食猎物，到根据周围环境进行伪装的能力。然而，它们的大脑组织与脊椎动物以及其他无脊椎动物有很大的不同，这为探索新的视觉神经结构如何组织和发挥作用提供了独特的机会。相对较少的研究使用当前的神经科学方法来研究头足类动物的视觉系统，以至于甚至没有对头足类动物中枢视觉系统中单细胞感受野进行测量。因此，这些非凡动物的视觉神经基础还有很多未知之处。在这里，我们回顾了头足类动物视觉系统的组织和功能的现有知识，为研究介导它们非凡视觉能力的神经回路和计算机制提供了一个框架。
