Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Science/2021 August 17

= August 17 =

Why does the common roach not wiggle an antenna if the eye on the other side can see a threat?


If you find one doing nothing it is wiggling the antennas but if you extend your arm to it till it gets nervous it'll just stand there and turn off the appropriate antenna(s) — the opposite antenna if only one eyeball can see the hand and both of them if both eyeballs can see the hand (if you froze as soon it stopped jiggling it'll start jiggling soon and you can reactivate it by wiggling your fingers) Why do the brain halves seem unable to look at a threat and operate the antenna at the same time? Why does it seem unable to walk if you can keep in a band between scared enough to flee and desensitized? Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 01:25, 17 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Eeeewww... I'd never keep roaches in a band. Martinevans123 (talk) 16:37, 17 August 2021 (UTC)
 * The CNS of insects is quite different than that of vertebrates. They don't even properly have "brains", rather they have a series of ganglia, the one in the head, which receives sensory input from the sense organs around the head and controls its parts, is called the supraesophageal ganglion. I'm not sure how the various parts of the brain interact, but that may give you some more resources and terms to help you research your own answers.  -- Jayron 32 16:50, 17 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Perhaps the wiggling is to catch odors, and is stopped to free up processing power to attend to the more important visual information? Abductive  (reasoning) 18:32, 17 August 2021 (UTC)
 * It is probably sort of a freezing behavior because most predators cannot see immovable objects. Ruslik_ Zero 19:01, 17 August 2021 (UTC)
 * They say that "predators can't see motionless prey" idea has been debunked. I tend to think it has been over-applied. Abductive  (reasoning) 21:28, 17 August 2021 (UTC)
 * I suspect even the thought of being predated by a cockroach is enough to make most people motionless. Martinevans123 (talk) 21:39, 17 August 2021 (UTC)