Dynamics of Motor Behavior Laboratory

DMBL studies neural mechanisms involved in controlling rhythmic motor  behaviors like walking, swimming, or chewing.  Such behaviors are generated  by neural networks called central pattern generators (CPGs) that can still  produce motor patterns even when sensory feedback is absent.

The goals of DMBL are:

1.   Understand how small biological CPGs produce rhythmic motor behavior that is also highly variable and adaptive. 

2.   Analyze and understand the contributions of noise and unstable (hence often chaotic) dynamics to the variability observed in all parts of the nervous system but particularly in small CPGs.

3.   Build small hardware robotic mechanisms to illustrate and augment our understanding of CPG dynamics.

Current projects of DMBL are:

1.   Building computer models of neurons and networks to study the influence of biological noise and unstable dynamics on motor pattern generation.

2.   Using established and novel methods for the analysis of variable neural data.

3.   Building a controller for a simple mobile robotic mechanism that is inherently unstable.