Preprint
Variational and phase response analysis for limit cycles with hard boundaries, with applications to neuromechanical control problems
ArXiv.org
05/17/2022
DOI: 10.48550/arXiv.2205.08339
Abstract
Motor systems show an overall robustness, but because they are highly
nonlinear, understanding how they achieve robustness is difficult. In many
rhythmic systems, robustness against perturbations involves response of both
the shape and the timing of the trajectory. This makes the study of robustness
even more challenging.
To understand how a motor system produces robust behaviors in a variable
environment, we consider a neuromechanical model of motor patterns in the
feeding apparatus of the marine mollusk \textit{Aplysia californica}
\citep{shaw2015,lyttle2017}. We established in \citep{WGCT2021} the tools for
studying combined shape and timing responses of limit cycle systems under
sustained perturbations and here apply them to study robustness of the
neuromechanical model against increased mechanical load during swallowing.
Interestingly, we discover that nonlinear biomechanical properties confer
resilience by immediately increasing resistance to applied loads. In contrast,
the effect of changed sensory feedback signal is significantly delayed by the
firing rates' hard boundary properties. Our analysis suggests that sensory
feedback contributes to robustness in swallowing primarily by shifting the
timing of neural activation involved in the power stroke of the motor cycle
(retraction). This effect enables the system to generate stronger retractor
muscle forces to compensate for the increased load, and hence achieve strong
robustness.
The approaches that we are applying to understanding a neuromechanical model
in \textit{Aplysia}, and the results that we have obtained, are likely to
provide insights into the function of other motor systems that encounter
changing mechanical loads and hard boundaries, both due to mechanical and
neuronal firing properties.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Variational and phase response analysis for limit cycles with hard boundaries, with applications to neuromechanical control problems
- Creators
- Yangyang WangJeffrey P GillHillel J ChielPeter J Thomas
- Resource Type
- Preprint
- Publication Details
- ArXiv.org
- DOI
- 10.48550/arXiv.2205.08339
- ISSN
- 2331-8422
- Language
- English
- Date posted
- 05/17/2022
- Academic Unit
- Iowa Neuroscience Institute; Mathematics
- Record Identifier
- 9984258609702771
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