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Acoustic pattern recognition and orientation in orthopteran insects: parallel or serial processing?

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Abstract

In grasshoppers the acoustic information for pattern recognition and directional analysis is processed via parallel channels and not serially. This can be concluded from the following results established by behavioural experiments:

  1. 1.

    For pattern recognition the inputs from both sides are added internally. This implies that directional information is lost on this channel and must be processed in parallel.

  2. 2.

    The location of a female song can be influenced by introducing short clicks from both sides, forcing the grasshopper to turn to the louder resp. leading side. Also, when given a choice between two patterns of different efficiency, the grasshoppers turned towards the side with the stronger directional cues and not to the side with the more efficient pattern.

  3. 3.

    The parallel processing of acoustic information in grasshoppers corresponds to the evolution of acoustic communication in Acridids, as song evolved only when the ability of hearing and localization was already present. This is in contrast to crickets where the close evolutionary coupling of singing and hearing in the context of mate finding possibly favoured a serial processing of song recognition and localization.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Zoologisches Institut der Universität Erlangen, Staudtstrasse 5, D-91054, Erlangen, Germany

    D. von Helversen & O. von Helversen

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  1. D. von Helversen
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  2. O. von Helversen
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von Helversen, D., von Helversen, O. Acoustic pattern recognition and orientation in orthopteran insects: parallel or serial processing?. J Comp Physiol A 177, 767–774 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00187635

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