Extended Neural Metastability in an Embodied Model of Sensorimotor Coupling
The hypothesis that brain organization is based on mechanisms of metastable synchronization in neural assemblies has been popularized during the last decades of neuroscientific research. Nevertheless, the role of body and environment for understanding the functioning of metastable assemblies is freq...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2016-09-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience |
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| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnsys.2016.00076/full |
| _version_ | 1817994428069969920 |
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| author | Miguel Aguilera Miguel Aguilera Manuel G. Bedia Manuel G. Bedia Xabier E Barandiaran Xabier E Barandiaran |
| author_facet | Miguel Aguilera Miguel Aguilera Manuel G. Bedia Manuel G. Bedia Xabier E Barandiaran Xabier E Barandiaran |
| author_sort | Miguel Aguilera |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The hypothesis that brain organization is based on mechanisms of metastable synchronization in neural assemblies has been popularized during the last decades of neuroscientific research. Nevertheless, the role of body and environment for understanding the functioning of metastable assemblies is frequently dismissed. The main goal of this paper is to investigate the contribution of sensorimotor coupling to neural and behavioural metastability using a minimal computational model of plastic neural ensembles embedded in a robotic agent in a behavioural preference task. Our hypothesis is that, under some conditions, the metastability of the system is not restricted to the brain but extends to the system composed by the interaction of brain, body and environment. We test this idea, comparing an agent in continuous interaction with its environment in a task demanding behavioural flexibility with an equivalent model from the point of view of 'internalist neuroscience'. A statistical characterization of our model and tools from information theory allows us to show how (1) the bidirectional coupling between agent and environment brings the system closer to a regime of criticality and triggers the emergence of additional metastable states which are not found in the brain in isolation but extended to the whole system of sensorimotor interaction, (2) the synaptic plasticity of the agent is fundamental to sustain open structures in the neural controller of the agent flexibly engaging and disengaging different behavioural patterns that sustain sensorimotor metastable states, and (3) these extended metastable states emerge when the agent generates an asymmetrical circular loop of causal interaction with its environment, in which the agent responds to variability of the environment at fast timescales while acting over the environment at slow timescales, suggesting the constitution of the agent as an autonomous entity actively modulating its sensorimotor coupling with the world. We conclude with a reflection about how our results contribute in a more general way to current progress in neuroscientific research. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-14T01:51:44Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9793240aa8674533a016654bd08a0668 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1662-5137 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-14T01:51:44Z |
| publishDate | 2016-09-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience |
| spelling | doaj.art-9793240aa8674533a016654bd08a06682022-12-22T02:19:19ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience1662-51372016-09-011010.3389/fnsys.2016.00076210933Extended Neural Metastability in an Embodied Model of Sensorimotor CouplingMiguel Aguilera0Miguel Aguilera1Manuel G. Bedia2Manuel G. Bedia3Xabier E Barandiaran4Xabier E Barandiaran5University of ZaragozaUniversity of the Balearic IslandsUniversity of ZaragozaUniversity of ZaragozaUPV/EHU University of the Basque CountryUPV/EHU University of the Basque CountryThe hypothesis that brain organization is based on mechanisms of metastable synchronization in neural assemblies has been popularized during the last decades of neuroscientific research. Nevertheless, the role of body and environment for understanding the functioning of metastable assemblies is frequently dismissed. The main goal of this paper is to investigate the contribution of sensorimotor coupling to neural and behavioural metastability using a minimal computational model of plastic neural ensembles embedded in a robotic agent in a behavioural preference task. Our hypothesis is that, under some conditions, the metastability of the system is not restricted to the brain but extends to the system composed by the interaction of brain, body and environment. We test this idea, comparing an agent in continuous interaction with its environment in a task demanding behavioural flexibility with an equivalent model from the point of view of 'internalist neuroscience'. A statistical characterization of our model and tools from information theory allows us to show how (1) the bidirectional coupling between agent and environment brings the system closer to a regime of criticality and triggers the emergence of additional metastable states which are not found in the brain in isolation but extended to the whole system of sensorimotor interaction, (2) the synaptic plasticity of the agent is fundamental to sustain open structures in the neural controller of the agent flexibly engaging and disengaging different behavioural patterns that sustain sensorimotor metastable states, and (3) these extended metastable states emerge when the agent generates an asymmetrical circular loop of causal interaction with its environment, in which the agent responds to variability of the environment at fast timescales while acting over the environment at slow timescales, suggesting the constitution of the agent as an autonomous entity actively modulating its sensorimotor coupling with the world. We conclude with a reflection about how our results contribute in a more general way to current progress in neuroscientific research.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnsys.2016.00076/fullEmbodied Cognitionself-organized criticalityEvolutionary RoboticsMetastabilitysynaptic plastictysensorimotor coupling |
| spellingShingle | Miguel Aguilera Miguel Aguilera Manuel G. Bedia Manuel G. Bedia Xabier E Barandiaran Xabier E Barandiaran Extended Neural Metastability in an Embodied Model of Sensorimotor Coupling Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience Embodied Cognition self-organized criticality Evolutionary Robotics Metastability synaptic plasticty sensorimotor coupling |
| title | Extended Neural Metastability in an Embodied Model of Sensorimotor Coupling |
| title_full | Extended Neural Metastability in an Embodied Model of Sensorimotor Coupling |
| title_fullStr | Extended Neural Metastability in an Embodied Model of Sensorimotor Coupling |
| title_full_unstemmed | Extended Neural Metastability in an Embodied Model of Sensorimotor Coupling |
| title_short | Extended Neural Metastability in an Embodied Model of Sensorimotor Coupling |
| title_sort | extended neural metastability in an embodied model of sensorimotor coupling |
| topic | Embodied Cognition self-organized criticality Evolutionary Robotics Metastability synaptic plasticty sensorimotor coupling |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnsys.2016.00076/full |
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