image: (A) Maze channel design, (B) guiding electric stimulation, (C) punishing electric stimulation, and (D) punishing heat stimulation. The lower-right image is a thermal image of the maze surface. The pink dotted lines indicate the movement trajectories of the cockroach in the maze.
Credit: Li Yu, Beijing Institute of Technology.
A research paper by scientists at Beijing Institute of Technology presented a steering control strategy for cyborg insects in operant learning training of cockroaches in a T-maze. Cockroaches developed a preference for specific maze channels after only five consecutive sessions of unilateral cercus electrical stimulation and steering behavior induction, achieving a memory score of 83.5%, outperforming traditional punishing training schemes.
The research paper, published on Mar. 7, 2025 in the journal Cyborg and Bionic Systems.
Cyborg insects are highly adaptable for detection and recognition assignments, achieved through the electrical stimulation of multiple organs and nerves to control their locomotion. However, it remains unclear whether these control strategies can promote memory formation in insects, thereby facilitating their training for recognition assignments. “To investigate the effect of electrical stimulation of sensory organs on insect memory formation, the cerci of cockroaches were stimulated with electric signals during training, inducing them to divert to a specific maze channel before making autonomous decisions.” said the author Li Yu, a researcher at Beijing Institute of Technology, “We demonstrated that cockroaches completed spatial learning after only five training sessions. The learning performance of cockroaches under electrical inducement-based training exceeded that of traditional punishment-based training.”
The research process of this paper is divided into the following parts: (1) Select adult Madagascar cockroaches with a body length of 5-7 cm as experimental subjects. (2) Create a T-shaped training maze with thermal punishment mechanism and a wireless micro stimulator with electrical punishment. (3) Determine the optimal electrical stimulation parameters for precise control of cockroach behavior during training by stimulating the turning response of the unilateral caudal cord with electrical stimulation. (4) Train cockroaches using three strategies: thermal stimulation, guided electrical stimulation, and punitive electrical stimulation. Record and compare the memory performance of cockroaches under the three strategies.
The present study describes the learning performance of cockroaches in the T-maze based on three different training modalities. Among these three training approaches, the training protocol based on guided electrical stimulation obtained the highest memory score of 83.50% ± 0.15%, significantly higher than that of punitive electrical stimulation and thermal stimulation. Meanwhile, the learning performance trained in this way has strong stability. “In future studies, we aim to integrate sensory cues with this strategy further to enhance cyborg insects’ ability to recognize environmental, visual, and odor information. This will expand the applications of cyborg insects for detection assignments.” said Li Yu.
Authors of the paper include Li Yu, Jieliang Zhao, Yufan Song, Zhiyun Ma, Zhong Liu, Lulu Liang, Mengdi Xu, Wenzhong Wang, and Shaoze Yan.
This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (2021YFB3400200), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grants 52075038 and 52375282), the National Science and Technology Major Project of China (grant SKS-2022031), and the BIT Teli Young Fellow Recruitment Program (RCPT-20220005).
The paper, “Cercus Electric Stimulation Enables Cockroach with Trajectory Control and Spatial Cognition Training” was published in the journal Cyborg and Bionic Systems on Mar. 7, 2025, at DOI: 10.34133/cbsystems.0154.
Journal
Cyborg and Bionic Systems