A dynamical model for generating synthetic data to quantify active tactile sensing behavior in the rat.

ABSTRACT: As it becomes possible to simulate increasingly complex neural networks, it becomes correspondingly important to model the sensory information that animals actively acquire: the biomechanics of sensory acquisition directly determines the sensory input and therefore neural processing. Here, we exploit the tractable mechanics of the well-studied rodent vibrissal ("whisker") system to present a model that can simulate the signals acquired by a full sensor array actively sampling the environment. Rodents actively "whisk" ∼60 vibrissae (whiskers) to obtain tactile information, and this system is therefore ideal to study closed-loop sensorimotor processing. The simulation framework presented here, WHISKiT Physics, incorporates realistic morphology of the rat whisker array to predict the time-var

SUBMITTER: Zweifel NO 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8271597 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature