Locomotion requires a balance between mechanical stability and movement flexibility to achieve behavioral goals despite noisy neuromuscular systems, but rarely is it considered how this balance is orchestrated. We combined virtual reality tools with quantitative analysis of behavior to examine how Drosophila uses self-generated visual information (reafferent visual feedback) to control gaze during exploratory walking. We found that flies execute distinct motor programs coordinated across the body to maximize gaze stability. However, the presence of inherent variability in leg placement relative to the body jeopardizes fine control of gaze due to posture-stabilizing adjustments that lead to unintended changes in course direction. Surprisingly, whereas visual feedback is dispensable for head-body coordination, we found that self-generated visual signals tune postural reflexes to rapidly prevent turns rather than to promote compensatory rotations, a long-standing idea for visually guided course control. Together, these findings support a model in which visual feedback orchestrates the interplay between posture and gaze stability in a manner that is both goal dependent and motor-context specific.

尽管神经肌肉系统嘈杂，但运动需要机械稳定性和运动灵活性之间的平衡才能实现行为目标，但很少考虑如何协调这种平衡。我们将虚拟现实工具与行为定量分析相结合，研究果蝇如何使用自我生成的视觉信息（传入视觉反馈）来控制探索性行走过程中的注视。我们发现果蝇执行全身协调的不同运动程序，以最大限度地提高凝视稳定性。然而，腿部相对于身体的放置位置存在固有的可变性，会危及对注视的精细控制，因为姿势稳定调整会导致路线方向的意外变化。令人惊讶的是，虽然视觉反馈对于头身协调来说是可有可无的，但我们发现，自我生成的视觉信号会调整姿势反射，以快速防止转弯，而不是促进补偿性旋转，这是视觉引导航向控制的长期想法。总之，这些发现支持了一个模型，在该模型中，视觉反馈以一种既取决于目标又取决于运动环境的方式协调姿势和凝视稳定性之间的相互作用。