Jorge Cortés
Professor
Cymer Corporation Endowed Chair
Hierarchical selective recruitment in linear-threshold brain networks. Part I: Intra-layer dynamics and selective inhibition
E. Nozari, J. Cortés
IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control 66 (3) (2021), 949-964
Abstract
Goal-driven selective attention (GDSA) refers to the brain's
function of prioritizing, according to one's internal goals and
desires, the activity of a task-relevant subset of its overall
network to efficiently process relevant information while inhibiting
the effects of distractions. Despite decades of research in neuroscience, a
comprehensive understanding of GDSA is still lacking.
We propose a novel framework for GDSA using concepts
and tools from control theory as well as insights and structures
from neuroscience. Central to this framework is an
information-processing hierarchy with two main components: selective
inhibition of task-irrelevant activity and top-down recruitment of
task-relevant activity. We analyze the internal dynamics of each
layer of the hierarchy described as a network with linear-threshold
dynamics and derive conditions on its structure to guarantee
existence and uniqueness of equilibria, asymptotic stability, and
boundedness of trajectories. We also provide mechanisms that
enforce selective inhibition using the biologically-inspired schemes
of feedforward and feedback inhibition. Despite their differences,
both schemes lead to the same conclusion: the intrinsic dynamical
properties of the (not-inhibited) task-relevant subnetworks are the
sole determiner of the dynamical properties that are achievable
under selective inhibition.
pdf
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering,
University of California, San Diego
9500 Gilman Dr,
La Jolla, California, 92093-0411
Ph: 1-858-822-7930
Fax: 1-858-822-3107
cortes at ucsd.edu
Skype id:
jorgilliyo