Why Do Animals Have So Many Receptors? The Role of Multiple Chemosensors in Animal Perception

• Published in: The Biological bulletin (Lancaster) Vol. 200; no. 2; pp. 211 - 215
• Main Authors: Derby, Charles D., Steullet, Pascal
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Marine Biological Laboratory 01.04.2001; University of Chicago Press
• Subjects: Animals; Chemoreceptor Cells - physiology; Chemoreceptors; Crustacea; Crustaceans; Invertebrate Sensory Information Processing: Implications for Biologically Inspired Autonomous Systems: Proceedings of a Workshop Sponsored by the Center for Advanced Studies in the Space Life Sciences at the MBL 15 to 17 June 2000; Lobsters; Neurons; Neuropil; Pain; Perception - physiology; Physiological aspects; Receptors; Robotics; Robots; Sensilla; Sensors; Sensory perception; Sensory receptors; United States
• ISSN: 0006-3185; 1939-8697
• DOI: 10.2307/1543318

Many animals have an abundance and diverse assortment of peripheral sensors, both across and within sensory modalities. Multiple sensors offer many functional advantages to an animal's ability to perceive and respond to environmental signals. Advantages include extending the ability to detect and determine the spatial distribution of stimuli, improving the range and accuracy of discrimination among stimuli of different types and intensities, increasing behavioral sensitivity to stimuli, ensuring continued sensory capabilities when the probability of damage or other loss of function to some sensors is high, maintaining sensory function over the entire sensory surface during development and growth, and increasing the richness of behavioral output to sensory stimulation. In this paper, we use the crustacean chemosensory system as the primary example to discuss these functions of multiple sensors. These principles may be applicable to the function of autonomous robots and should be considered in their design.