Visual Pattern Recognition in <i>Drosophila</i> Is Invariant for Retinal Position

Abstract

Vision relies on constancy mechanisms. Yet, these are little understood, because they are difficult to investigate in freely moving organisms. One such mechanism, translation invariance, enables organisms to recognize visual patterns independent of the region of their visual field where they had originally seen them. Tethered flies (Drosophila melanogaster) in a flight simulator can recognize visual patterns. Because their eyes are fixed in space and patterns can be displayed in defined parts of their visual field, they can be tested for translation invariance. Here, we show that flies recognize patterns at retinal positions where the patterns had not been presented before.