Topic: turning

An important goal of the nervous system is to integrate sensory cues with an animal’s current behavior state to generate a suitable motor response. However, the underlying neuronal mechanism behind how neural circuits integrate sensory and behavior signals remains unknown. To answer this question, we performed a systematic high-throughput optogenetic interrogation of the neural circuits underlying mechanosensorimotor processing in the nematode C. elegans. When C. elegans detects gentle touch from the environment, it usually responds by moving backward, also known as reversals. The likelihood o

Animals employ different behavioral strategies to achieve the goal of sensory navigation. However, the factors that drive switches between different strategies---and the neural mechanisms underlying them---remain largely unknown. The nematode worm C. elegans is known to exhibit distinct “steering” and “turning” strategies during navigation, where steering involves continuous, gradual changes in orientation, and turning involves infrequent, major reorientation events. It is commonly assumed that the worm’s responses to sensory input, whether steering or turning, are independent behavioral actio