<p> Neuromodulation is a neurophysiological process by which a single neuron can regulate the neural activity of a diverse population of neurons. Sensory integration is a neurobiological process by which the brain combines multiple sensory modality inputs (i.e., vision, proprioception, audition, tactile, olfactory, vestibular, interoception, and taste) into usable functional outputs. In biological systems, neuromodulation and sensory integration have been shown to have a strong influence over action selection (decision-making) and action execution (motor output) respectively. The experiments portrayed in Chapters 1-4 provide empirical and theoretical evidence for neuromodulatory influence over selected actions through predictions of expected costs and rewards. The simulation experiments described in Chapters 5-6 illustrate how sensory integration influences action execution across different neural architectures in visually and memory guided sensorimotor transformation tasks. The implications of these results and future endeavors are discussed in Chapter 7, along with a proposed computational model of both action selection and sensory integration to investigate the dynamics of decision-making influenced by the integration of multiple sensory inputs in order to execute an action.</p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:3626926 |
| Date | 29 August 2014 |
| Creators | Asher, Derrik E. |
| Publisher | University of California, Irvine |
| Source Sets | ProQuest.com |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
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