MCB419 logo  


SPRING 06 ARCHIVE Lectures

Lecture schedule and content

The material presented in each class session will be summarized here, with links to the associated reading material, web resources, and powerpoint files. You may need to enter the course userid and password to access the lecture slides and reading material.

Week 2: behavior without a nervous system, bacterial chemotaxis
Week1: introduction; evolution of intelligence

Tue, Jan 17

Topics: introduction to the course; overview of course website; intro to MATLAB.
Powerpoint: Lecture 1
Readings: Belew, Braitenberg, Crist
Homework 1 due Tue Jan 24 (midnight).

Thu, Jan 19

Topics: evolution of intelligence; MATLAB tutorials.
Powerpoint: Lecture 2

Tue, Jan 24

Topics: single-cell intelligence: defining the 'problem'; intro to bacterial chemotaxis; kinesis vs taxis; anatomy of a Matlab simulation;
Powerpoint: Lecture 3
Readings: Dusenbery, Jurica, Zupanc
Homework 2 due Tue Jan 31 (midnight).

Thu, Jan 26

Topics: HW01 discussion; signaling pathways in bacterial chemotaxis; temporal derivatives and sensory adaptation; obstacle avoidance in paramecia; electrical signaling; Matlab simulation: parameters and state variables; HW02 overview.
Powerpoint: Lecture 4
Movies: Paramecium 1, Paramecium 2

Week 3: sensory information processing

Tue, Jan 31

Topics: Emergence of multicellular organisms; Braitenberg vehicles; What is information?; Dusenbery article; Homework 3 overview;
Powerpoint: Lecture 5

Thu, Feb 2

Topics: Information relationships (syntactic, semantic, pragmatic); possible evolutionary relationships among different sensory modalities (solvent vs. solute sensing); emergence of animals (~600 MYA), emergence of nervous systems (~550 MYA); Intro. to C. elegans.
Powerpoint: Lecture 6

Week 4: simple nervous systems; C. elegans chemotaxis

Tue, Feb 7

Topics: Solving the C.elegans chemotaxis problem with neurons; Neural computation: non-linearities and logic; perceptrons; stimulus classification; solving the tropotaxis problem using a perceptron; Matlab example; HW04 intro.
Powerpoint: Lecture 7

Thu, Feb 9

Topics: Cambrian explosion, brain complexity, Matlab techniques, stupid bot tricks
Powerpoint: Lecture 8

Week 5: modulation of behavior; exam I

Tue, Feb 14

Topics: area-restricted search in C. elegans, neuromodulation, organizing behavior on multiple time scales.
Powerpoint: Lecture 9

Thu, Feb 16

EXAM I: First in-class exam. Covers material from Jan 17 through Feb 9.

Week 6: organizing motor output; action selection

Tue, Feb 21

Topics: organizing motor output, motor hierarchies, pattern generation, mutual inhibition, sensory-motor integration, Beer's artificial insect
Powerpoint: Lecture 10

Thu, Feb 23

Topics: action selection; condition-action pairs; Matlab conditionals (if...else...); neural implementations; Homework 6 overview and advice.
Powerpoint: Lecture 11

Week 7: layered control architectures, vertebrate brains

Tue, Feb 28

Topics: vertebrate brain organization, robot control architectures, Brooks' subsumption architecture
Powerpoint: Lecture 12

Thu, Mar 2

Topics: behavioral hierarchies (seagull behavior), rat defense system, vertebrate brain areas and layered control, action selection and the basal ganglia


Powerpoint: Lecture 13

Week 8: predator-prey interactions; tournament I

Tue, Mar 7

Topics: Vertebrate neuroethology; Processing of predator- and prey-related signals in the toad brain; tournament overview.
Powerpoint: Lecture 14

Thu, Mar 9

March Madness Bot Tournament (link)
Student-designed bots compete head-to-head to survive three days and nights in the predator-infested waters of Braitu island. Who has the brains to survive? Outwit, Outplay, Outlast.

Week 9: maps, pattern recognition, associative learning

Tue, Mar 14

Topics: Braitenberg chapters 7-9; internal maps; pattern recognition; motion detection; associative learning; Exam II review.
Powerpoint: Lecture 15

Thu, Mar 16

EXAM II: Second in-class exam. Covers material from Feb 14 through Mar 7.

Enjoy your SPRING BREAK!!!

Week 10: reinforcement learning, honeybee foraging

Tue, Mar 28

Topics: learning, memory, honeybee foraging, proboscis extension reflex
Powerpoint: Lecture 16

Thu, Mar 30

Topics: neural basis of PER, VUMmx1 neuron, associative learning models, delta rule, Montague et al. model of bee foraging (predictive Hebbian learning)
Powerpoint: Lecture 17

Week 11: communication

Tue, Apr 4

Topics: animal communication, language, general issues, specific examples (vervet monkeys, bee dance, ant pheronomes, ...)
Powerpoint: Lecture 18

Thu, Apr 6

Topics: ant pheromone trails
Powerpoint: Lecture 19

Week 12: declarative memory; active sensing

Tue, Apr 11

Topics: memory systems, declarative, non-declarative, episodic, semantic, procedural, emotional, ...; thinking, planning
Powerpoint: Lecture 20

Thu, Apr 13

Topics: active sensing, fish electrolocation, bat and dolphin echolocation, rat whisking, blind mole rats, flashlight fish
Powerpoint: Lecture 21

Week 13: emotions; exam III

Tue, Apr 18

Topics: emotions in animals and animats
Powerpoint: Lecture 22

Thu, Apr 20

EXAM III: Third in-class exam. Covers material from Mar 14 through Apr 13.

Week 14: applications, tournament II

Tue, Apr 25

Topics: applications
Powerpoint: Lecture 23

Thu, Apr 27

Bot Tournament II:
(link)
Bot spit-ball competition!

Week 15: TBD

Tue, May 2

LAST CLASS OF THE SEMESTER

Topics: review for make-up/improvement exam
Powerpoint: Lecture 24

Thu, May 4

NO CLASS (Reading Day)
Make-up/improvement exam on
Fri, May 5 at 1:30 PM!