Investigating the computational principles of motor control

该项目位于物理科学，神经科学和工程的交叉点，旨在研究运动控制的计算原理，结合控制工程的理论方法和数据驱动的方法。我将更具体地研究3D旋转的控制，这是手臂伸展和头部定向运动的一个组成部分，并将研究在3D中执行定向运动的计算要求。将3D旋转控制问题分解成其构建块将有望为研究运动控制的算法基础和形成各种脑回路及其相互作用的机械作用的直觉提供良好的基础。我将首先考虑不同的方式，其中旋转可以表示（例如使用四元数或欧拉角）和-使用控制理论的方法-研究最优控制算法制定下各种已知的表示旋转。此外，我们在工程系的小组和MRC分子生物学实验室的一个小组之间的密切合作将使我能够访问一个实验装置，该装置使用光遗传学技术来研究负责小鼠头部运动的神经回路，从而提供了从专门针对理解3D旋转控制的实验中获得数据的机会。这将有望进一步深入了解这种运动行为的计算原理，并可能有助于判断旋转的各种内部表示。总的来说，该项目将涉及从控制理论和物理学中提取的理论工具，并将其应用于运动控制问题，这是神经科学中的一个关键问题，也与其他工程领域的发展密切相关，如机器人。

This project, which lies at the intersection of the physical sciences, neuroscience and engineering, aims to investigate the computational principles of motor control, combining theoretical methods from control engineering and a data-driven approach. I will look more specifically look at the control of 3D rotations, a constituent of both arm reaching and orienting head movements, and will investigate the computational requirements for the execution of directed movements in 3D. Breaking down the 3D rotational control problem into its building blocks will hopefully provide a good basis for studying the algorithmic basis of motor control and forming intuitions for the mechanistic role of various brain circuits and their interactions. I will initially consider the different ways in which rotations can be represented (e.g using quaternions or Euler angles) and - using a control-theoretic approach - study optimal control algorithms formulated under various known representations of rotations. Furthermore, the existence of a close collaboration between our group in the Engineering department and a group in the MRC Laboratory for Molecular Biology will enable me to access an experimental setup which uses optogenetic techniques to study the neural circuits responsible for head movements in mice, and thus offer the opportunity to obtain data from experiments specifically targeted at the understanding of the control of 3D rotations. This will hopefully yield further insights into the computational principles of this motor behavior, and possibly help adjudicate between the various internal representations of rotations. Overall, this project will involve theoretical tools taken from control theory and physics, and apply them to the problem of motor control, a key question in neuroscience, also closely connected to developments in other engineering fields such as robotics.