Learning of leg position by headless insects

Abstract

REMOVAL of the brain, and even of the whole head, leaves some insects such as cockroaches and locusts still able to walk, or right themselves when turned over. Evidently there is a high degree of local control of the posture and responses of the legs by the corresponding segmental ganglia; therefore not all details of the proprioceptive control of leg position need ascend to the brain. In turn, long-term adaptive changes in leg posture might then necessarily be controlled by the segmental ganglia if the detailed information were available only at the segmental level.