Theses and Dissertations from UMD

Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2

New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM

More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.

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Author: search.filters.author.Runchey, Matthew

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    A spike-based head-movement and echolocation model of the bat superior colliculus
    (2013) Runchey, Matthew; Horiuchi, Timothy; Electrical Engineering; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Echolocating bats use sonar to sense their environment and hunt for food in darkness. To understand this unusual sensory system from a computational perspective with aspirations towards developing high performance electronic implementations, we study the bat brain. The midbrain superior colliculus (SC) has been shown (in many species) to support multisensory integration and orientation behaviors, namely eye saccades and head turns. Previous computational models of the SC have emphasized the behavior typical to monkeys, barn owls, and cats. Using unique neurobiological data for the bat and incorporating knowledge from other species, a computational spiking model has been developed to produce both head-movement and sonar vocalization. The model accomplishes this with simple neuron equations and synapses, which is promising for implementation on a VLSI chip. This model can serve as a foundation for further developments, using new data from bat experiments, and be easily connected to spiking motor and vocalization systems.