"Sand scorpions and many other arachnids locate their prey through highly sensitive slit sensilla at the tips (tarsi) of their eight legs. This sensor array responds to vibrations with stimulus-locked action potentials encoding the target direction. We present a neuronal model to account for stimulus angle determination using a population of second-order neurons, each receiving excitatory input from one tarsus and inhibition from a triad opposite to it. ..."
Model Type: Neuron or other electrically excitable cell
Model Concept(s): Pattern Recognition; Simplified Models; Direction Selectivity
Simulation Environment: Brian (web link to method); Python (web link to model)
Implementer(s): Brette R
References:
Stürzl W, Kempter R, van Hemmen JL. (2000). Theory of arachnid prey localization. Physical review letters. 84 [PubMed]