Neuromatch Academy: a 3-week, online summer school in computational neuroscience

Neuromatch Academy (https://academy.neuromatch.io; (van Viegen et al., 2021)) was designed as an online summer school to cover the basics of computational neuroscience in three weeks. The materials cover dominant and emerging computational neuroscience tools, how they complement one another, and specifically focus on how they can help us to better understand how the brain functions. An original component of the materials is its focus on modeling choices, i.e. how do we choose the right approach, how do we build models, and how can we evaluate models to determine if they provide real (meaningful) insight. This meta-modeling component of the instructional materials asks what questions can be answered by different techniques, and how to apply them meaningfully to get insight about brain function

Animation Levels of Detail Design for Real-Time Virtual Human

International audienceAnimating numerous humans in virtual worlds with real-time constraint is difficult. The problem is mainly due to the computation time required to animate complex motions. This problem can be solved by the use of animation levels of detail. These manage the computation complexity by selecting the way each model is computed. An animation level of detail of an object consist in a set of animation models with different computation costs. In this paper, we propose a new approach of model design in order to easily build animation levels of detail. Our model architecture consists in a pipeline of sub-models. Each sub-model performs a given task in the animation process: animation of the body or of the legs for example. It encapsulates several computation methods for the given task with different computation costs. Our animation levels of detail minimize the complexity by selecting the best suitable animation method according to the environment. The policy of model selection also depends on external parameters: distance to the point of view and visibility. We apply our approach to the building of a walking model on complex grounds

Simulation Levels of Detail for Real-time Virtual Worlds

International audienceAnimating numerous human-like gures in large virtual spaces makes it diicult to provide users with an interactive simulation rate. The prob-lems mainly consist in the large numb e r o f w alk-ers required to simulate realistic virtual spaces and in the accuracy of the model needed to ac-count for complex environments. We propose a new approach of model design in order to mini-mize the computation cost according to the kind of simulation and environment. A l o w-cost sim-pliied walking model is designed for at ground while a more complex one is proposed for com-plex terrains. We also describe how and when the transitions between these models occur while ensuring a visually realistic motion. The re-sults show that using simulation levels of detail is specially suitable for simulations in large virtual spaces and makes it possible to visualize realistic motions of walkers with a controlled computation cost

Simulation Levels of Detail for Real-time Virtual Worlds

International audienceAnimating numerous human-like gures in large virtual spaces makes it diicult to provide users with an interactive simulation rate. The prob-lems mainly consist in the large numb e r o f w alk-ers required to simulate realistic virtual spaces and in the accuracy of the model needed to ac-count for complex environments. We propose a new approach of model design in order to mini-mize the computation cost according to the kind of simulation and environment. A l o w-cost sim-pliied walking model is designed for at ground while a more complex one is proposed for com-plex terrains. We also describe how and when the transitions between these models occur while ensuring a visually realistic motion. The re-sults show that using simulation levels of detail is specially suitable for simulations in large virtual spaces and makes it possible to visualize realistic motions of walkers with a controlled computation cost

Impaired consciousness during temporal lobe seizures is related to increased long-distance cortical-subcortical synchronization.

International audienceLoss of consciousness (LOC) is a dramatic clinical manifestation of temporal lobe seizures. Its underlying mechanism could involve altered coordinated neuronal activity between the brain regions that support conscious information processing. The consciousness access hypothesis assumes the existence of a global workspace in which information becomes available via synchronized activity within neuronal modules, often widely distributed throughout the brain. Re-entry loops and, in particular, thalamo-cortical communication would be crucial to functionally bind different modules together. In the present investigation, we used intracranial recordings of cortical and subcortical structures in 12 patients, with intractable temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), as part of their presurgical evaluation to investigate the relationship between states of consciousness and neuronal activity within the brain. The synchronization of electroencephalography signals between distant regions was estimated as a function of time by using non-linear regression analysis. We report that LOC occurring during temporal lobe seizures is characterized by increased long-distance synchronization between structures that are critical in processing awareness, including thalamus (Th) and parietal cortices. The degree of LOC was found to correlate with the amount of synchronization in thalamo-cortical systems. We suggest that excessive synchronization overloads the structures involved in consciousness processing, preventing them from treating incoming information, thus resulting in LOC