Neuroscience and Neurobiology Commons^™

Learning Emotions: A Software Engine For Simulating Realistic Emotion In Artificial Agents, Douglas Code

Senior Independent Study Theses

This paper outlines a software framework for the simulation of dynamic emotions in simulated agents. This framework acts as a domain-independent, black-box solution for giving actors in games or simulations realistic emotional reactions to events. The emotion management engine provided by the framework uses a modified Fuzzy Logic Adaptive Model of Emotions (FLAME) model, which lets it manage both appraisal of events in relation to an individual’s emotional state, and learning mechanisms through which an individual’s emotional responses to a particular event or object can change over time. In addition to the FLAME model, the engine draws on the design …

Change Detection In Rhesus Monkeys And Humans, Deepna T. Devkar, Deepna T. Devkar

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Visual working memory (VWM) is the temporary retention of visual information and a key component of cognitive processing. The classical paradigm for studying VWM and its encoding limitations has been change detection. Early work focused on how many items could be stored in VWM, leading to the popular theory that humans could remember no more than 4±1 items. More recently, proposals have suggested that VWM is a noisy, continuous resource distributed across virtually all items in the visual field, resulting in diminished memory quality rather than limited quantity. This debate about the nature of VWM has predominantly been studied with …

Rejection Positivity Predicts Trial-To-Trial Reaction Times In An Auditory Selective Attention Task: A Computational Analysis Of Inhibitory Control, Sufen Chen, Robert D. Melara

Publications and Research

A series of computer simulations using variants of a formal model of attention (Melara and Algom, 2003) probed the role of rejection positivity (RP), a slow-wave electroencephalographic (EEG) component, in the inhibitory control of distraction. Behavioral and EEG data were recorded as participants performed auditory selective attention tasks. Simulations that modulated processes of distractor inhibition accounted well for reaction-time (RT) performance, whereas those that modulated target excitation did not. A model that incorporated RP from actual EEG recordings in estimating distractor inhibition was superior in predicting changes in RT as a function of distractor salience across conditions. A …

Eeg-Microstate Dependent Emergence Of Perceptual Awareness, Juliane Britz, Laura Díaz Hernàndez, Tony Ro, Christoph M. Michel

Publications and Research

We investigated whether the differences in perceptual awareness for stimuli at the threshold of awareness can arise from different global brain states before stimulus onset indexed by the EEG microstate. We used a metacontrast backward masking paradigm in which subjects had to discriminate between two weak stimuli and obtained measures of accuracy and awareness while their EEG was recorded from 256 channels. Comparing targets that were correctly identified with and without awareness allowed us to contrast differences in awareness while keeping performance constant for identical physical stimuli. Two distinct pre-stimulus scalp potential fields (microstate maps) dissociated correct identification with and …

Field Effects And Ictal Synchronization: Insights From In Homine Observations, Shennan A. Weiss, Guy Mckhann Jr., Robert Goodman, Ronald G. Emerson, Andrew Trevelyan, Marom Bikson, Catherine A. Schevon

Publications and Research

It has been well established in animal models that electrical fields generated during inter-ictal and ictal discharges are strong enough in intensity to influence action potential firing threshold and synchronization. We discuss recently published data from microelectrode array recordings of human neocortical seizures and speculate about the possible role of field effects in neuronal synchronization. We have identified two distinct seizure territories that cannot be easily distinguished by traditional EEG analysis. The ictal core exhibits synchronized neuronal burst firing, while the surrounding ictal penumbra exhibits asynchronous and relatively sparse neuronal activity. In the ictal core large amplitude rhythmic ictal discharges …

The Development Of A Traumatic Brain Injury Bioreactor, Zachery Heller

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Approximately 1.7 million Americans experience a traumatic brain injury (TBI) each year. Concussive injuries are a subset of TBI in which blows to the head cause the brain to collide against the interior of the skull. Damage to the neurons, supporting cells, and surrounding extra cellular matrix resulting from these collisions can lead to permanent physical, cognitive, and psychological impairment. We believe the prevalence and clinical significance of concussive injures warrants research investment. To study brain injury following TBI, in vivo models have been the gold standard for TBI experiments. Although a valuable research alternative, animals are expensive, raise ethical …

Network Dynamics Of Visual Naming, Christopher R. Conner

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Recognition and naming of objects and actions are fundamental components of language. They involve several different systems working in coordination to accomplish a complex behavior. During visual naming, sensory and semantic processing are carried out by dedicated cortical substrates in the temporal and occipital lobes, while response selection and articulatory planning are handled by prefrontal cortex. Despite decades of research using lesion analysis, functional MRI and electro-encephalography, the precise dynamics involved remain unknown due to the inadequate spatio-temporal resolution of these methodologies. Of particular interest is the organization of semantic knowledge and the degree of serial and parallel organization of …

Dynamics Of The Fitzhugh-Nagumo Neuron Model, Zechariah Thurman

Physics

In this paper, the dynamical behavior of the Fitzhugh-Nagumo model is examined. The relationship between neuron input current and the firing frequency of the neuron is characterized. Various coupling schemes are also examined, and their effects on the dynamics of the system is discussed. The phenomenon of stochastic resonance is studied for a single uncoupled Fitzhugh-Nagumo neuron.

Role Of Neurogranin In The Regulation Of Calcium Binding To Calmodulin, Anuja Chandrasekar

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Role of Neurogranin in the regulation of calcium binding to Calmodulin

Anuja Chandrasekar, B.S

Advisor: M. Neal Waxham, Ph.D

The overall goal of my project was to gain a quantitative understanding of how the interaction between two proteins neurogranin (RC3) and calmodulin (CaM) alters a fundamental property of CaM. CaM, has been extensively studied for more than four decades due to its seminal role in almost all biological functions as a calcium signal transducer. Calcium signals in cardiac and neuronal cells are exquisitely precise and enable activation of some processes while down-regulating others. CaM, with its four calcium binding sites, …

Neural Processing Of Facial Identity And Emotion In Infants At High-Risk For Autism Spectrum Disorders, Sharon E. Fox, Jennifer B. Wagner, Christine L. Shrock, Helen Tager-Flusberg, Charles A. Nelson

Publications and Research

Deficits in face processing and social impairment are core characteristics of autism spectrum disorder. The present work examined 7-month-old infants at high-risk for developing autism and typically developing controls at low-risk, using a face perception task designed to differentiate between the effects of face identity and facial emotions on neural response using functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy. In addition, we employed independent component analysis, as well as a novel method of condition-related component selection and classification to identify group differences in hemodynamic wave forms and response distributions associated with face and emotion processing.The results indicate similarities of waveforms, but differences in the …

Rescuing Acetylcholinesterase From Nerve Agent Inhibition: Protein Dynamics Driven Drug Discovery, Aiyana M. Emigh, Brian Bennion

STAR Program Research Presentations

Severe morbidity and mortality consequences result from irreversible inhibition of human acetylcholinesterase by organophosphates (OPs). Oxime-based reactivators are currently the only available treatments but lack efficacy in the central nervous system (CNS) where the most damage occurs. Computational docking and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations reveal complex structural barriers that may reduce oxime efficacy. These results may guide future drug designs of more effective countermeasures.

Low Cost Neurochairs, Frankie Pike

Master's Theses

Electroencephalography (EEG) was formerly confined to clinical and research settings with the necessary hardware costing thousands of dollars. In the last five years a number of companies have produced simple electroencephalograms, priced below $300 and available direct to consumers. These have stirred the imaginations of enthusiasts and brought the prospects of "thought-controlled" devices ever closer to reality. While these new devices were largely targeted at video games and toys, active research on enabling people suffering from debilitating diseases to control wheelchairs was being pursued. A number of neurochairs have come to fruition offering a truly hands-free mobility solution, but whether …

Neural Synchrony In The Zebra Finch Brain, Sydney Pia Goings

Scripps Senior Theses

I am interested in discovering the role of field potential oscillations in producing synchrony within the song system of the male zebra finch brain. An important function attributed to neural synchrony is sensorimotor integration. In the production of birdsong, sensorimotor integration is crucial, as auditory feedback is necessary for the maintenance of the song. A cortical-thalamic-cortical feedback loop is thought to play a role in the integration of auditory and motor information for the purpose of producing song. Synchronous activity has been observed between at least two nuclei in this feedback loop, MMAN and HVC. Since low frequency field potential …

Derivation Of A Novel Efficient Supervised Learning Algorithm From Cortical-Subcortical Loops, Ashok Chandrashekar, Richard Granger

Dartmouth Scholarship

Although brain circuits presumably carry out powerful perceptual algorithms, few instances of derived biological methods have been found to compete favorably against algorithms that have been engineered for specific applications. We forward a novel analysis of a subset of functions of cortical-subcortical loops, which constitute more than 80% of the human brain, thus likely underlying a broad range of cognitive functions. We describe a family of operations performed by the derived method, including a non-standard method for supervised classification, which may underlie some forms of cortically dependent associative learning. The novel supervised classifier is compared against widely used algorithms for …

A Model Of Intracellular Θ Phase Precession Dependent On Intrinsic Subthreshold Membrane Currents., L Stan Leung

Physiology and Pharmacology Publications

A hippocampal place cell fires at an increasingly earlier phase in relation to the extracellular theta rhythm as a rodent moves through the place field. The present report presents a compartment model of a CA1 pyramidal cell that explains the increase in amplitude and the phase precession of intracellular theta oscillations, with the assumption that the cell receives an asymmetric ramp depolarization (<10 >mV) in the place field and rhythmic inhibitory and/or excitatory synaptic driving. Intracellular subthreshold membrane potential oscillations (MPOs) increase in amplitude and frequency, and show phase precession within the place field. Theta phase precession and MPO power …

Fuzzy Logic: A “Simple” Solution For Complexities In Neurosciences?, Saniya Siraj Godil, Muhammad Shahzad Shamim, Ather Enam, Uvais Qidwai

Medical College Documents

Background: Fuzzy logic is a multi-valued logic which is similar to human thinking and interpretation. It has the potential of combining human heuristics into computer-assisted decision making, which is applicable to individual patients as it takes into account all the factors and complexities of individuals. Fuzzy logic has been applied in all disciplines of medicine in some form and recently its applicability in neurosciences has also gained momentum.
Methods: This review focuses on the use of this concept in various branches of neurosciences including basic neuroscience, neurology, neurosurgery, psychiatry and psychology.
Results: The applicability of fuzzy logic is not limited …

Neural Spike Renormalization. Part I — Universal Number 1, Bo Deng

Department of Mathematics: Faculty Publications

For a class of circuit models for neurons, it has been shown that the transmembrane electrical potentials in spike bursts have an inverse correlation with the intra-cellular energy conversion: the fewer spikes per burst the more energetic each spike is. Here we demonstrate that as the per-spike energy goes down to zero, a universal constant to the bifurcation of spike-bursts emerges in a similar way as Feigenbaum’s constant does to the period-doubling bifurcation to chaos generation, and the new universal constant is the first natural number 1.

Neural Spike Renormalization. Part Ii — Multiversal Chaos, Bo Deng

Department of Mathematics: Faculty Publications

Reported here for the first time is a chaotic infinite-dimensional system which contains infinitely many copies of every deterministic and stochastic dynamical system of all finite dimensions. The system is the renormalizing operator of spike maps that was used in a previous paper to show that the first natural number 1 is a universal constant in the generation of metastable and plastic spike-bursts of a class of circuit models of neurons.

Computational Modeling Of Biological Neural Networks On Gpus: Strategies And Performance, Byron Galbraith

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Simulating biological neural networks is an important task for computational neuroscientists attempting to model and analyze brain activity and function. As these networks become larger and more complex, the computational power required grows significantly, often requiring the use of supercomputers or compute clusters. An emerging low-cost, highly accessible alternative to many of these resources is the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) - specialized massively-parallel graphics hardware that has seen increasing use as a general purpose computational accelerator thanks largely due to NVIDIA's CUDA programming interface. We evaluated the relative benefits and limitations of GPU-based tools for large-scale neural network simulation and …

Metastability And Plasticity In A Conceptual Model Of Neurons, Bo Deng

Department of Mathematics: Faculty Publications

For a new class of neuron models we demonstrate here that typical membrane action potentials and spike-bursts are only transient states but appear to be asymptotically stable; and yet such metastable states are plastic — being able to dynamically change from one action potential to another with different pulse frequencies and from one spike-burst to another with different spike-per-burst numbers. The pulse and spike-burst frequencies change with individual ions’ pump currents while their corresponding metastable-plastic states maintain the same transmembrane voltage and current profiles in range. It is also demonstrated that the plasticity requires two one-way ion pumps operating in …

Robust Dynamic Balance Of Ap-1 Transcription Factors In A Neuronal Gene Regulatory Network., Gregory M Miller, Babatunde A Ogunnaike, James S Schwaber, Rajanikanth Vadigepalli

Department of Pathology, Anatomy, and Cell Biology Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: The octapeptide Angiotensin II is a key hormone that acts via its receptor AT1R in the brainstem to modulate the blood pressure control circuits and thus plays a central role in the cardiac and respiratory homeostasis. This modulation occurs via activation of a complex network of signaling proteins and transcription factors, leading to changes in levels of key genes and proteins. AT1R initiated activity in the nucleus tractus solitarius (NTS), which regulates blood pressure, has been the subject of extensive molecular analysis. But the adaptive network interactions in the NTS response to AT1R, plausibly related to the development of …

Conceptual Circuit Models Of Neurons, Bo Deng

Department of Mathematics: Faculty Publications

A systematic circuit approach tomodel neurons with ion pump is presented here by which the voltage-gated current channels are modeled as conductors, the diffusion-induced current channels are modeled as negative resistors, and the one-way ion pumps are modeled as one-way inductors. The newly synthesized models are different from the type of models based on Hodgkin-Huxley (HH) approach which aggregates the electro, the diffusive, and the pump channels of each ion into one conductance channel. We show that our new models not only recover many known properties of the HH type models but also exhibit some new that cannot be extracted …

Tools And Approaches For The Construction Of Knowledge Models From The Neuroscientific Literature, Gully Burns, Arshad Khan, Shahram Ghandeharizadeh, Mark O'Neill, Yi-Shin Chen

Selected Works Temporary Series

Within this paper, we describe a neuroinformatics project (called "NeuroScholar," http://www.neuroscholar.org/) that enables researchers to examine, manage, manipulate, and use the information contained within the published neuroscientific literature. The project is built within a multi-level, multi-component framework constructed with the use of software engineering methods that themselves provide code-building functionality for neuroinformaticians. We describe the different software layers of the system. First, we present a hypothetical usage scenario illustrating how NeuroScholar permits users to address large-scale questions in a way that would otherwise be impossible. We do this by applying NeuroScholar to a "real-world" neuroscience question: How is stress-related information …

Tools And Approaches For The Construction Of Knowledge Models From The Neuroscientific Literature, Burns, Arshad Khan, Shahram Ghandeharizadeh, Mark O'Neill, Yi-Shin Chen

Departmental Papers (Biology)

Within this paper, we describe a neuroinformatics project (called "NeuroScholar," http://www.neuroscholar.org/) that enables researchers to examine, manage, manipulate, and use the information contained within the published neuroscientific literature. The project is built within a multi-level, multi-component framework constructed with the use of software engineering methods that themselves provide code-building functionality for neuroinformaticians. We describe the different software layers of the system. First, we present a hypothetical usage scenario illustrating how NeuroScholar permits users to address large-scale questions in a way that would otherwise be impossible. We do this by applying NeuroScholar to a "real-world" neuroscience question: How is stress-related information …

First Principles Of Physio-Informatic Systems: Neurocosmology, David Jay Warner

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Physio-informatics is a new systems model for linking human physiologic systems to information systems in the most general way. Physio-informatics is used here to denote a systems based, physiologically robust reference architecture for designing and refining interactive human-computer interface systems in ways that increase operational throughput of information. In this dissertation, a systems model for interactive human-computer interface systems is developed. This model is a physiologically based reference architecture for designing and developing interactive human computer interface systems to match the human nervous system’s ability to transduce, transmit, and render to consciousness the necessary information to interact intelligently with information. …

Theories Of Structure Versus Theories Of Change, Melanie Mitchell

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

The dynamics/computation debate recalls a similar debate in the evolutionary biology community concerning the relative primacy of theories of structure versus theories of change. A full account of cognition will require a rapprochement between such theories and will include both computational and dynamical notions. The key to making computation relevant to cognition is not making it analog, but rather understanding how functional information-processing structures can emerge in complex dynamical systems.

Categorical And Coordinate Spatial Judgements In Face Recognition, Jill E. Russell

Theses : Honours

The role of the cerebral hemispheres in processing spatial relationships is outlined in Kosslyn 's (1987) theory that states that there are two separate subsystems for processing spatial relations: one located in the left hemisphere (LHem) that is more efficient at processing categorical information, and one in the right hemisphere (RHem) that is more efficient at processing coordinate information. To test Kosslyn's theory, this study manipulated two IVs in a within-subjects design, task: categorical and coordinate; and visual field (VF): left and right Male and female face stimuli were presented in either the left visual field (LVF) to the (RHem) …