The Effect of Proprioceptive Feedback on the Distribution of Sensory Information in a Model of an Undulatory Organism

In an animal, a crucial factor concerning the arrival of information at the sensors and subsequent transmission to the effectors, is how it is distributed. At the same time, higher animals also employ proprioceptive feedback so that their respective neural circuits have information regarding the state of the animal body. In order to disseminate what this practically means for the distribution of sensory information, we have modeled a segmented swimming organism (animat) coevolving its nervous system and body plan morphology. In a simulated aquatic environment, we find that animats artificially endowed with proprioceptive feedback are able to evolve completely decoupled central pattern generators (CPGs) meaning that they emerge without any connections made to neural circuits in adjacent body segments. Without such feedback however, we also find that the distribution of sensory information from the head of the animat becomes far more important, with adjacent CPG circuits becoming interconnected. Crucially, this demonstrates that where proprioceptive mechanisms are lacking, more effective delivery of sensory input is essential

The evolutionary emergence of neural organisation in computational models of primitive organisms

Over the decades, the question why did neural organisation emerge in the way that it did? has proved to be massively elusive. Whilst much of the literature paints a picture of common ancestry the idea that a species at the root of the tree of nervous system evolution spawned numerous descendants the actual evolutionary forces responsible for such changes, major transitions or otherwise, have been less clear. The view presented in this thesis is that via interactions with the environment, neural organisation has emerged in concert with the constraints enforced by body plan morphology and a need to process information eciently and robustly. Whilst these factors are two smaller parts of a much greater whole, their impact during the evolutionary process cannot be ignored, for they are fundamentally signicant. Thus computer simulations have been developed to provide insight into how neural organisation of an articial agent should emerge given the constraints of its body morphology, its symmetry, feedback from the environment, and a loss of energy. The first major finding is that much of the computational process of the nervous system can be ooaded to the body morphology, which has a commensurate bearing on neural architecture, neural dynamics and motor symmetry. The second major finding is that sensory feedback strengthens the dynamic coupling between the neural system and the body plan morphology, resulting in minimal neural circuitry yet more ecient agent behaviour. The third major finding is that under the constraint of energy loss, neural circuitry again emerges to be minimalistic. Throughout, an emphasis is placed on the coupling between the nervous system and body plan morphology which are known in the literature to be tightly integrated; accordingly, both are considered on equal footings

Evolution of Neural Organization in a Hydra-Like Animat

The role of efficient information processing in organizing nervous systems is investigated. For this purpose, we have developed a computational model termed the Hydramat Simulation Environment, so named since it simulates certain structural aspects of fresh water hydra. We compare the evolution of neural organization in architectures that remain static throughout their lifetimes and neural architectures that are perturbed by small random amounts. We find that (a) efficient information processing directly contributes to the structural organization of a model nervous system and (b) lifetime architectural perturbations can facilitate novel architectural features. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg

Evolution of Neural Organization in a Hydra-Like Animat

Jones B, Jin Y, Yao X, Sendhoff B. Evolution of Neural Organization in a Hydra-Like Animat. In: Köppen M, Kasabov N, Coghill G, eds. Advances in Neuro-Information Processing. 15th International Conference, ICONIP 2008, Auckland, New Zealand, November 25-28, 2008, Revised Selected Papers, Part I. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg; 2009: 216-223.The role of efficient information processing in organizing nervous systems is investigated. For this purpose, we have developed a computational model termed the Hydramat Simulation Environment, so named since it simulates certain structural aspects of fresh water hydra. We compare the evolution of neural organization in architectures that remain static throughout their lifetimes and neural architectures that are perturbed by small random amounts. We find that (a) efficient information processing directly contributes to the structural organization of a model nervous system and (b) lifetime architectural perturbations can facilitate novel architectural features