Abstract

Theme: Brains and Machines

Abstract: The nervous system is fundamentally a closed loop control device: the output of actions continually influences the internal state and subsequent actions. This is true at the single cell and even the molecular level, where “actions” take the form of signals that are fed back to achieve a variety of functions, including homeostasis, excitability and various kinds of multistability that allow switching and storage of memory. It is also true at the behavioural level, where an animal’s motor actions directly influence sensory input on short timescales, and higher level information about goals and intended actions are continually updated on the basis of current and past actions. Studying the brain in a closed loop setting requires a multidisciplinary approach, leveraging engineering and theory as well as advances in measuring and manipulating the nervous system. I will describe our recent attempts to achieve this fusion of approaches at multiple levels in the nervous system, from synaptic signalling to closed loop brain machine interfaces.

Biography: Timothy O’Leary is Professor of Information Engineering and Neuroscience in the University of Cambridge, where together with his group he studies the nature of information processing, learning and intelligent behaviour in living systems. He teaches engineering, edits for a major open access journal, and directs several international projects funded by the HFSP , ERC and Kavli Foundation. His current research aims to understand how information is represented in the brain and how these representations evolve in time, and how we can leverage control engineering principles to understand variability, diversity and robustness in nervous systems.

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