Anticipatory characteristics of nonlinear complex systems dynamics

Ability to react in response to future possibilities rather than being passively and deterministically driven by the past and current state is a fundamental characteristics of natural cognitive systems. It appears even in the simplest organisms, suggesting that it arises from a particular way such systems are dynamically coupled to their environment. Such couplings mechanisms may be generic and hence may also characterise anticipatory mechanisms appear in the nervous system.

The project will look at models of dynamical couplings in complex systems giving raise to anticipatory characteristics and will investigate their properties. Characterisation of such anticipatory mechanisms will give rise to new predictive data analysis tools, which will reflect these predictive characteristics and hence can be used in practical applications in which forecasting plays an important role. The project will evaluate such models and the resulting analytic tools using neural data which will provide both the source of potential natural anticipatory mechanisms as well as data forecasting benchmarks. Of particular interest are projects with a focus on investigating the hallmarks of anticipatory dynamics in neural systems, their theoretical significance for the nature of neural interactions and practical implications for bioengineering solutions interfacing with a neural system. This will be achieved through a combination of modelling, analytics and analysis of data collected from cultured neural networks, or EEG activity. The latter may inform future Brain Computer Interfaces applications. The research is truly interdisciplinary and involves combination of analytic skills, theoretical neuroscience with a strong drive towards applications.

The project will be hosted by the School of Biological Sciences, University of Reading. The University of Reading is one of the UK’s 20 most research-intensive universities and among the top 200 universities in the world. Achievements include the Queen’s Award for Export Achievement (1989) and the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher Education (1998, 2006 and 2009). This project will take place in the Brain Embodiment Lab within Biomedical Engineering Section of the School of Biological Sciences (SBS), which has a strong reputation for its innovative research in cybernetics, and biomedical engineering, including Brain Computer Interfaces, animats - robots controlled by cultures of living neuronal cells and cognitive robotics systems.

For informal inquiries please contact Prof SJ Nasuto, email: [Email Address Removed].