000057075 001__ 57075
000057075 005__ 20200221144219.0
000057075 0247_ $$2doi$$a10.3389/fnsys.2016.00076
000057075 0248_ $$2sideral$$a96603
000057075 037__ $$aART-2016-96603
000057075 041__ $$aeng
000057075 100__ $$0(orcid)0000-0002-3366-4706$$aAguilera, M.
000057075 245__ $$aExtended neural metastability in an embodied model of sensorimotor coupling
000057075 260__ $$c2016
000057075 5060_ $$aAccess copy available to the general public$$fUnrestricted
000057075 5203_ $$aThe hypothesis that brain organization is based on mechanisms of metastable synchronization in neural assemblies has been popularized during the last decades of neuroscientific research. Nevertheless, the role of body and environment for understanding the functioning of metastable assemblies is frequently dismissed. The main goal of this paper is to investigate the contribution of sensorimotor coupling to neural and behavioral metastability using a minimal computational model of plastic neural ensembles embedded in a robotic agent in a behavioral preference task. Our hypothesis is that, under some conditions, the metastability of the system is not restricted to the brain but extends to the system composed by the interaction of brain, body and environment. We test this idea, comparing an agent in continuous interaction with its environment in a task demanding behavioral flexibility with an equivalent model from the point of view of “internalist neuroscience.” A statistical characterization of our model and tools from information theory allow us to show how (1) the bidirectional coupling between agent and environment brings the system closer to a regime of criticality and triggers the emergence of additional metastable states which are not found in the brain in isolation but extended to the whole system of sensorimotor interaction, (2) the synaptic plasticity of the agent is fundamental to sustain open structures in the neural controller of the agent flexibly engaging and disengaging different behavioral patterns that sustain sensorimotor metastable states, and (3) these extended metastable states emerge when the agent generates an asymmetrical circular loop of causal interaction with its environment, in which the agent responds to variability of the environment at fast timescales while acting over the environment at slow timescales, suggesting the constitution of the agent as an autonomous entity actively modulating its sensorimotor coupling with the world. We conclude with a reflection about how our results contribute in a more general way to current progress in neuroscientific research.
000057075 536__ $$9info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MINECO/PSI2014-62092-EXP
000057075 540__ $$9info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess$$aby$$uhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/
000057075 592__ $$a2.069$$b2016
000057075 593__ $$aCognitive Neuroscience$$c2016$$dQ1
000057075 593__ $$aNeuroscience (miscellaneous)$$c2016$$dQ1
000057075 593__ $$aDevelopmental Neuroscience$$c2016$$dQ1
000057075 593__ $$aCellular and Molecular Neuroscience$$c2016$$dQ2
000057075 655_4 $$ainfo:eu-repo/semantics/article$$vinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
000057075 700__ $$0(orcid)0000-0002-8263-2444$$aBedia, M.G.$$uUniversidad de Zaragoza
000057075 700__ $$aBarandiaran, X.E.
000057075 7102_ $$15007$$2570$$aUniversidad de Zaragoza$$bDpto. Informát.Ingenie.Sistms.$$cÁrea Lenguajes y Sistemas Inf.
000057075 773__ $$g10 (2016), [15 pp.]$$pFront. syst. neurosci.$$tFrontiers in Systems Neuroscience$$x1662-5137
000057075 8564_ $$s1594149$$uhttps://zaguan.unizar.es/record/57075/files/texto_completo.pdf$$yVersión publicada
000057075 8564_ $$s11705$$uhttps://zaguan.unizar.es/record/57075/files/texto_completo.jpg?subformat=icon$$xicon$$yVersión publicada
000057075 909CO $$ooai:zaguan.unizar.es:57075$$particulos$$pdriver
000057075 951__ $$a2020-02-21-13:13:46
000057075 980__ $$aARTICLE