ArticleCommunicative & integrative biology2010
On predatory wasps and zombie cockroaches: Investigations of "free will" and spontaneous behavior in insects.
Article in Communicative & integrative biology, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- The Cocoon of the Developing Emerald Jewel Wasp (Ampulex compressa) Resists Cannibalistic Predation of the Zombified Host.Brain, behavior and evolution · 2025Article
- Sensitivity to expression levels underlies differential dominance of a putative null allele of the Drosophila tβh gene in behavioral phenotypes.PLoS biology · 2021Article
- How Not to Be Turned into a Zombie.Brain, behavior and evolution · 2018Article
- Endogenous rhythm and pattern-generating circuit interactions in cockroach motor centres.Biology open · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Accumulating evidence suggest that nonhuman organisms, including invertebrates, possess the ability to make non-random choices based purely on ongoing and endogenously-created neuronal processes. We study this precursor of spontaneity in cockroaches stung by A. compressa, a parasitoid wasp that employs cockroaches as a live food supply for its offspring. This wasp uses a neurotoxic venom cocktail to 'hijack' the nervous system of its cockroach prey and manipulate specific features of its decision making process, thereby turning the cockroach into a submissive 'zombie' unable to self-initiate locomotion. We discuss different behavioral and physiological aspects of this venom-induced 'zombified state' and highlight at least one neuronal substrate involved in the regulation of spontaneous behavior in insects.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.