Sensory Integration and the Cricket Circal System. Sensory systems gather environmental information, and present this information to the central nervous system in a manner that the CNS can interpret. Part of this presentation is the electrical activity of the sensory neurons. But a large part is also the reconstruction of a spatial interface that in some manner reconstructs the spatial qualities of the environment, as they relate to the sensory modality in question. The Cricket Circal System is an elegant example of the organization of such an interface.
Crickets use their cerci to determine the direction from which wind is blowing.
The source of the wind might be the pressure wave riding the front of a frog's tongue, whipping out to capture the cricket. This lab revolves around this cricket circal system. You will mount and dissect a cricket, place hook electrodes under its abdominal ventral nerve cord, and perform experiments which reveal aspects of sensory integration. The accompanying videos present a scientific paper that describes this system, and the methodology of how to prepare the crickets for the dissection. You should maintain a detailed record of your efforts, and present computer based presentation of your work at the end of the period allotted Lab 1.