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2006 - 2007
announces
compact course on
SPIKING NEURONS TO BEHAVIOR:
Dynamical Systems, the neuromechanics of animal locomotion
and models of
decision making
by
Prof. Philip Holmes
Program in Applied and Computational Mathematics and
Department of
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University
4.00 pm – 5.15 pm
on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday
December 17, 18 and 20, 2007
(starting on December 17, 2007)
2.30pm – 3.30 pm
on Wednesday, December 19, 2007
at
L H – 3, Department of Mathematics
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
Abstract
I will describe how ideas and methods from the theories of
deterministic and stochastic dynamical systems can be
used to model and analyze the behaviors of running and
thinking animals (including humans). I will show that simple
energy-conserving mechanical models possess stable gaits
similar to those seen in rapid running from insects to
humans, and thoserealistic models of neural pattern
generators and muscles can be added to such models, allowing
the study of neural feedback. I will also show that one
dimensional drift-diffusion processes can describe the
accumulation of evidence in cortical areas during decision
making. This permits explicit analyses of optimal decision
strategies, to which human and animal behaviors can be
compared. Throughout, I will emphasise how simple models can
help reveal the dynamics of complex phenomena, and even
provide partial explanations of them.
Background can be found in two extensive review articles:
P. Holmes, R.J. Full, D. Koditschek and J. Guckenheimer. The
dynamics of legged locomotion: Models, analyses, and
challenges. SIAM Review 48(2): 207-304, 2006.}
R. Bogacz, E. Shea-Brown, J. Moehlis, P. Holmes and J.D.
Cohen. The physics of optimal decision making: A formal
analysis of models of performance in two-alternative forced
choice tasks. Psychological. Reveview 113(4): 700-765, 2006.
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