title: Modelling the insect Mushroom Bodies: Application to sequence learning.
abstract: Learning and reproducing temporal sequences is a fundamental ability used by living beings to adapt behaviour repertoire to environmental constraints. This paper is focused on the description of a model based on spiking neurons, able to learn and autonomously generate a sequence of events. The neural architecture is inspired by the insect Mushroom Bodies (MBs) that are a crucial centre for multimodal sensory integration and behaviour modulation. The sequence learning capability coexists, within the insect brain computational model, with all the other features already addressed like attention, expectation, learning classification and others. This is a clear example that a unique neural structure is able to cope concurrently with a plethora of behaviours. Simulation results and robotic experiments are reported and discussed.
authors: Dipartimento di Ingegneria Elettrica, Elettronica e Informatica, University of Catania, Italy; National Institute of Biostructures and Biosystems (INBB), Viale delle Medaglie d'Oro 305, 00136 Rome, Italy.
authors: Paolo
authors: P
authors: Arena
authors: Dipartimento di Ingegneria Elettrica, Elettronica e Informatica, University of Catania, Italy.
authors: Marco
authors: M
authors: Calí
authors: Dipartimento di Ingegneria Elettrica, Elettronica e Informatica, University of Catania, Italy. Electronic address: lpatane@dieei.unict.it.
authors: Luca
authors: L
authors: Patané
authors: Dipartimento di Ingegneria Elettrica, Elettronica e Informatica, University of Catania, Italy.
authors: Agnese
authors: A
authors: Portera
authors: Institut für Zoologie III (Neurobiologie), University of Mainz, Germany.
authors: Roland
authors: R
authors: Strauss
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D003198:Computer Simulation; D007313:Insecta / Q000502:physiology*; D008959:Models, Neurological; D024521:Mushroom Bodies / Q000502:physiology*; D012371:Robotics; D012691:Serial Learning / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Context; Insect Mushroom Bodies; Insect brain; Learning; Neural model; Neuroscience; Spiking neurons