Neuromechanics: An Interdisciplinary Approach for Understanding Motor Control

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Neuromechanics is an inherently interdisciplinary field that combines approaches from neurobiology, organismal biology, engineering and computer science to understand the neural control of movement. The goal of this symposium is to bring together scientists from these diverse fields to explore the relationship between biomechanics and neural control of movement, to define general principles of neuromechanics, and to identify critical areas for future work. A second goal is to expose younger biological scientists to the opportunities and challenges of quantitative modeling and interdisciplinary research, as well as the need for bridging neuroscience and comparative biology with engineering and computer science. Historically, studies of the neural control of movement have developed mainly within the field of neuroscience. Over the past 25 years, however, the idea that the biomechanics of peripheral structures plays an important role in neural control has become increasingly well established. From a design perspective, it seems clear that algorithms for controlling a body must take into account the details of how that body works. However, our understanding of precisely how biomechanics influences neural control of movement is still rudimentary. A major challenge is the complex, multidimensional organization of animals and the non-linear properties of neurons and neuromotor circuits. A main theme of the symposium will be to understand how the dynamics and mechanics of body movement in relation to the physical environment are integrated with, and may help simplify, neural motor control.