U01NS136507

Understanding sensorimotor control through realistic neuro-biomechanical simulation - Summary/Abstract

The brain evolved to move the body, i.e., to implement sensorimotor control.

Understanding the brain, then, is inextricably linked to understanding how it coordinates the joints and muscles of the body to generate competent behavior in dynamic and unpredictable environments in the service of goals.

A tantalizing consequence of this is that understanding sensorimotor control will shed light on overall brain organizational and computational principles, including, potentially, higher-level cognition, which evolved much more recently by adapting the circuits already in place to control movement.

This promise has not yet been realized, however, because standard approaches to studying motor control seek to reduce complexity by, for example, isolating simple circuits, studying artificial tasks, or constraining movements.

These approaches thus avoid the sine qua non of motor control in biology: multiple interacting brain regions, multiple simultaneous goals, and multiple muscle coordinations, all in the presence of many sources of noise and sensory delays.

Here, we propose to embrace this complexity rather than reduce it and are enabled to do so through the use of 'virtual rat' models that comprise deep neural network controllers designed to be analogous to biological brains and biomechanically accurate bodies that are instantiated in simulators with real physics.

Using a high-throughput easy-to-use ‘virtual neuroscience’ platform that we are developing for our own use, and the use of the broader research community, we will train these models to imitate freely-behaving real animals such that they internalize the statistics of naturalistic behavior and then train them to solve goal-directed tasks.

This novel ‘deep neuroethology’ approach has two crucial features: highly biologically realistic behavior and the full transparency of a model.

We will then apply this approach to generate and test longstanding hypotheses about motor control and learning.

For example, we will interrogate:

(I) How the learning and execution of complex behavior are influenced by certain circuit motifs such as laterality, reciprocal inhibition between antagonistic muscle pairs, feedback architecture, sensor delays, cortical–subcortical interactions, and dopamine-mediated plasticity;

(II) How feedforward outputs and feedback inputs – in the setting of noise and sensory delays – coordinate movement;

(III) How animals learn to adapt their behaviors quickly such that they can generalize across novel environments and tasks; and

(IV) What roles the distinct neural representations and circuit motifs found throughout the hierarchy of the motor system play in neural computation.

The results of these studies will drive previously unachievable refinements to our theories of sensorimotor control and will thus spur new research directions in motor neuroscience and, potentially, in robotics and other fields.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we will have demonstrated the power of virtual neuroscience, inspiring future similar research programs, potentially using virtual animals of many species, to probe the mysteries of neural computation.

President And Fellows Of Harvard College

(1) TO SUPPORT EXTRAMURAL RESEARCH FUNDED BY THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS AND STROKE (NINDS) INCLUDING: BASIC RESEARCH THAT EXPLORES THE FUNDAMENTAL STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION OF THE BRAIN AND THE NERVOUS SYSTEM, RESEARCH TO UNDERSTAND THE CAUSES AND ORIGINS OF PATHOLOGICAL CONDITIONS OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM WITH THE GOAL OF PREVENTING THESE DISORDERS, RESEARCH ON THE NATURAL COURSE OF NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS, IMPROVED METHODS OF DISEASE PREVENTION, NEW METHODS OF DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT, DRUG DEVELOPMENT, DEVELOPMENT OF NEURAL DEVICES, CLINICAL TRIALS, AND RESEARCH TRAINING IN BASIC, TRANSLATIONAL AND CLINICAL NEUROSCIENCE. THE INSTITUTE IS THE LARGEST FUNDER OF BASIC NEUROSCIENCE IN THE US AND SUPPORTS RESEARCH ON TOPICS INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO: DEVELOPMENT OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM, INCLUDING NEUROGENESIS AND PROGENITOR CELL BIOLOGY, SIGNAL TRANSDUCTION IN DEVELOPMENT AND PLASTICITY, AND PROGRAMMED CELL DEATH, SYNAPSE FORMATION, FUNCTION, AND PLASTICITY, LEARNING AND MEMORY, CHANNELS, TRANSPORTERS, AND PUMPS, CIRCUIT FORMATION AND MODULATION, BEHAVIORAL AND COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE, SENSORIMOTOR LEARNING, INTEGRATION AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTION, NEUROENDOCRINE SYSTEMS, SLEEP AND CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS, AND SENSORY AND MOTOR SYSTEMS. IN ADDITION, THE INSTITUTE SUPPORTS BASIC, TRANSLATIONAL AND CLINICAL STUDIES ON A NUMBER OF DISORDERS OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM INCLUDING (BUT NOT LIMITED TO): STROKE, TRAUMATIC INJURY TO THE BRAIN, SPINAL CORD AND PERIPHERAL NERVOUS SYSTEM, NEURODEGENERATIVE DISORDERS, MOVEMENT DISORDERS, BRAIN TUMORS, CONVULSIVE DISORDERS, INFECTIOUS DISORDERS OF THE BRAIN AND NERVOUS SYSTEM, IMMUNE DISORDERS OF THE BRAIN AND NERVOUS SYSTEM, INCLUDING MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS, DISORDERS RELATED TO SLEEP, AND PAIN. PROGRAMMATIC AREAS, WHICH ARE PRIMARILY SUPPORTED BY THE DIVISION OF NEUROSCIENCE, ARE ALSO SUPPORTED BY THE DIVISION OF EXTRAMURAL ACTIVITIES, THE DIVISION OF TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH, THE DIVISION OF CLINICAL RESEARCH, THE OFFICE OF TRAINING AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT, THE OFFICE OF PROGRAMS TO ENHANCE NEUROSCIENCE WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT, AND THE OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES. (2) TO EXPAND AND IMPROVE THE SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH (SBIR) PROGRAM, TO INCREASE PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIALIZATION OF INNOVATIONS DERIVED FROM FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, TO INCREASE SMALL BUSINESS PARTICIPATION IN FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, AND TO FOSTER AND ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION OF SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND WOMEN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS IN TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION. TO UTILIZE THE SMALL BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER (STTR) PROGRAM, TO STIMULATE AND FOSTER SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION THROUGH COOPERATIVE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CARRIED OUT BETWEEN SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS, TO FOSTER TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER BETWEEN SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS, TO INCREASE PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIALIZATION OF INNOVATIONS DERIVED FROM FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, AND TO FOSTER AND ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION OF SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND WOMEN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS IN TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION.

93.279 - Drug Abuse and Addiction Research Programs

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NNDS) [HHS - NIH]

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) [HHS - NIH]

Cambridge, Massachusetts 021381903 United States

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BRAIN Initiative: Exploratory Team-Research BRAIN Circuit Programs - eTeamBCP (U01 Clinical Trials Optional) (RFA-NS-23-025)

Amendment Since initial award the total obligations have increased 379% from $1,077,350 to $5,163,869.