biostudies-literatureUnknownMano ONEI NIH HHSLocomotor movements cause visual images to be displaced across the eye, a retinal slip that is counteracted by stabilizing reflexes in many animals. In insects, optomotor turning causes the animal to turn in the direction of rotating visual stimuli, thereby reducing retinal slip and stabilizing trajectories through the world. This behavior has formed the basis for extensive dissections of motion vision. Here, we report that under certain stimulus conditions, two Drosophila species, including the widely studied D. melanogaster, can suppress and even reverse the optomotor turning response over several seconds. Such "anti-directional turning" is most strongly evoked by long-lasting, high-contrast, slow-moving visual stimuli that are distinct from those that promote syn-directional optomotor tbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology2023.01.06.523055https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC9882005biostudies-literatureLong timescale anti-directional rotation in Drosophila optomotor behavior.PMC9882005R01 EY026555R01 EY022638Clark DATanaka RMatos NCBMano OChoi MCreamer MSClandinin TRShomar JBadwan BAfalseLong timescale anti-directional rotation in Drosophila optomotor behavior.Locomotor movements cause visual images to be displaced across the eye, a retinal slip that is counteracted by stabilizing reflexes in many animals. In insects, optomotor turning causes the animal to turn in the direction of rotating visual stimuli, thereby reducing retinal slip and stabilizing trajectories through the world. This behavior has formed the basis for extensive dissections of motion vision. Here, we report that under certain stimulus conditions, two Drosophila species, including the widely studied D. melanogaster, can suppress and even reverse the optomotor turning response over several seconds. Such "anti-directional turning" is most strongly evoked by long-lasting, high-contrast, slow-moving visual stimuli that are distinct from those that promote syn-directional optomotor t2023-01-01T00:00:00Z2023 Apr2025-08-14T03:05:40.377Z2025-04-06T01:48:07.106ZS-EPMC98820053671162710.1101/2023.01.06.523055