Automatic and deliberate control of action: an embodied perspective of artificial and biological brains

• Autores: Giovanni Maffei
• Directores de la Tesis: Paul F. M. J. Verschure (dir. tes.)
• Lectura: En la Universitat Pompeu Fabra ( España ) en 2018
• Idioma: español
• Tribunal Calificador de la Tesis: Narender Ramnani (presid.), Adria Tauste Campo (secret.), Mario Negrello (voc.)
• Programa de doctorado: Programa de Doctorado en Tecnologías de la Información y las Comunicaciones por la Universidad Pompeu Fabra
• Materias:
  • Psicología
    • Psicopedagogía
      • Procesos cognitivos
• Enlaces
  • Tesis en acceso abierto en: TDX
• Resumen

  • Animals evolved to survive in dynamic environments by developing multi- ple strategies to adapt to and learn from their interaction with the world, from simple reflexes to goal-oriented actions. Automatic and deliberate processes are at the core of brain functions, however, to acquire a com- plete knowledge of their relevance for behavior it is necessary to take into consideration their embodied nature. In an interdisciplinary effort which integrates methods from computational modeling, robotics, and electrophysiology, this dissertation presents a series of studies that aims at advancing the understanding of the brain mechanisms responsible for the automatic and deliberate control of action. Through the formulation of a biologically constrained control architecture engaged in a real-world foraging task, we lay the ground for modeling and analyzing complex behavior which emerges from the interplay between the automatic cerebro- cerebellar system and the deliberate fronto-hippocampal system. Following the behavioral analysis of the stimulus-response model of cerebellar functions, we later ask how could the cerebellum implement anticipatory control which is both adaptive and resistant to uncertainty. To answer this question, we explore the properties of the automatic control system and advance a novel hypothesis on the role of the cerebellum by recasting its computation in the perceptual domain. Finally, we ask how the automatic and deliberate systems interact during unexpected situations that require a sudden change of plans. By analyzing the neural dynamics of the human frontal cortex during switching between automatic and deliberate actions, we support the role of low-frequency oscillations in orchestrating goal- oriented behavior. Altogether, these results contribute to our understanding of how automatic and deliberate processes in the brain control behavior and advance novel insights that challenge or extend current theories. Despite their relevance for neuroscientific research, these results could also be applied to the development of novel control systems for a new generation of robots.