Bug eyes: Tiny 3-D glasses confirm insect 3-D vision

A mantis wearing 3D glasses. Credit: Newcastle University


Most knowledge about 3D has come from vertebrates, however, a team from Newcastle University, UK publishing today in Scientific Reports, confirm that the praying mantis, an invertebrate, does indeed use stereopsis or 3D perception for hunting.


Better understanding of 3D vision


Study leader, Jenny Read, Professor of Vision Science said: "Despite their minute brains, mantises are sophisticated visual hunters which can capture prey with terrifying efficiency. We can learn a lot by studying how they perceive the world.

"Better understanding of their simpler processing systems helps us understand how 3D vision evolved, and could lead to possible new algorithms for 3D in computers."

In the experiments, mantises fitted with tiny glasses attached with beeswax were shown short videos of simulated bugs moving around a computer screen. The mantises didn't try to catch the bugs when they were in 2D. But when the bugs were shown in 3D, apparently floating in front of the screen, the mantises struck out at them. This shows that mantises do indeed use 3D vision.

A mantis wearing 3-D glasses. Credit: Newcastle University

Old-school 3D glasses

Initial testing of the most widely-used contemporary 3D technology used for humans - using circular polarization to separate the two eyes' images - didn't work because the insects were so close to the screen that the glasses failed to separate the two eyes' images correctly.

Dr Vivek Nityananda, sensory biologist at Newcastle University and part of the research team continues: "When this system failed we looked at the old-style 3D glasses with red and blue lenses. Since is poorly visible to mantises, we used green and blue glasses and an LED monitor with unusually narrow output in the green and blue wavelength.

A mantis wearing 3D glasses. Credit: Newcastle University



Explore further

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More information: Vivek Nityananda et al. Insect stereopsis demonstrated using a 3D insect cinema, Scientific Reports (2016). DOI: 10.1038/srep18718
Journal information: Scientific Reports

Citation: Bug eyes: Tiny 3-D glasses confirm insect 3-D vision (2016, January 7) retrieved 22 October 2020 from https://phys.org/news/2016-01-bug-eyes-tiny-d-glasses.html

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