
A two-neuron system for adaptive goal-directed decision-making in Lymnaea Snails [pdf] - wallflower
http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2016/160603/ncomms11793/pdf/ncomms11793.pdf
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cjhveal
To be slightly more clear, it looks like they're saying that there are two
_types_ of neurons, not two physical neuronal cells.

From the article's introduction:

"We demonstrate that the core decision-making system consists of just two
neuron types—a phasically firing command-like excitatory neuron, encoding the
presence of food, and a tonically firing modulatory neuron, acting as a gain
controller for the animal’s motivational state—and we characterize these two
pathways and their interactions at the point that a decision is made."

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radarsat1
Thanks, that makes a huge difference for the interpretation. Bad title, bad!

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jackhack
Almost 25 years ago, Jonathan Connell's book "Minimalist Mobile Robotics(1)"
briefly discusses the behavior network of the pond snail, and maps it using
Brooks' Subsumption Architecture. The book then goes on to discuss the
implementation of a robot that roams a MIT building, seeking empty soda cans
and returning them -- all without centralized control, mapping, or data
collaboration between a number of distributed processors. It's fascinating!

(1) [http://www.amazon.com/Minimalist-Robotics-Perspectives-
Artif...](http://www.amazon.com/Minimalist-Robotics-Perspectives-Artificial-
Intelligence/dp/012185230X)

But getting back to the snail being discussed: it has a very simple map of
behaviors. If wet, seeks light and crawls upwards. If horizontal, it seeks
dark. If vertical it crawls up. If upside, it seeks light. When dry, it stops
to feed. (Or something like this... I'm going off of memory from 20 years
ago.) These very simple behaviors can lead this snail to crawl out of the
water along a shore line and eat at the vegetation that exists at the boundary
between water and air.

It is quite amazing to see it all reduced to a handful of behaviors which mask
lower-level behaviors in a diagram which can be sketched on a cocktail napkin.

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trisomy21
Thanks for sharing this.

