Modeling General Principles Of Motion : Generating A Species-agnostic Model Of Motor Control (IRG1 - Project Reference 1938759)

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

We will build a scale-dependent model of how lower-level motor centers (LLMCs..i.e. local ganglia) control rhythmic motions that require interaction with the environment, such as walking or grasping objects, and how higher-level command centers (HLCCs...i.e. central cerebral structures) interface with the LLMCs to modulate behavior. Our overarching hypothesis is that the dynamical scale of a behavior, that is, the size of the animal and the speed of its motion, will enable us to derive cross-phylum principles of motor control and predict what neural circuitry each animal possesses. Our group consists of modelers from within three collaborating individual research groups (IRG's 2-4). We will use neuromechanical models of animals to generate hypotheses to be tested IRG's 2-4, and then compare and generalize what is uncovered by experimentation. We will make the whole research team of 4 individual research groups greater than the sum of its parts, by providing a theoretical framework to guide experimentation and integrate results from the other three research teams. We will model and analyze how the dynamical structure of LLMCs and the body itself simplify what information must be shared between the HLCC and LLMC, by considering a series of questions: How does the size of an animal and the speed of its behavior affect its passive mechanics? Do an animal's passive mechanics change the gain or type of sensory information necessary for control? How do the mechanics of the body simplify the descending control of behavior? The general principles uncovered will be validated by their use in controlling the walking and grasping of a general-purpose robotic platform. Our modelling and robotics work will be driven by two specific hypotheses:Hypothesis 1: Quantifying the dynamic scale of an animal and its behavior will enable the prediction of sensory feedback used to control motion. The ratio of elastic (or viscous) to inertial forces increases as animals become smaller (or slower). Small and/or slow animals have less gain of negative feedback reflexes as compared to larger animals, because the elastic and/or viscous forces stabilize behavior.Hypothesis 2: Despite differences in scale across species, there is a fundamental organization of the LLMCs that stabilizes interactions with the environment. This organization consists of pattern generators and reflexes within the LLMC, as well as motor responses mediated via ascending pathways to the HLCC and descending commands back to the LLMC. The efficacy of such pathways is enhanced by a simple, abstract code for communicating information. Four specific aims will drive us to test these hypothesesSpecific Aim 1: Refine theories of how scale affects passive body forces. Specific Aim 2: Construct an initial modeling framework common to C3NS's model organismsSpecific Aim 3: Understand and model organismal commonalities in how descending and ascending information is encoded, transmitted, and decoded by lower and higher-level networks Specific Aim 4: Validate the generalized model of the control of interaction with the environment.