We compare multistability in central pattern generator (CPG) motifs comprised either of biologically plausible Hodgkin-Huxley models of bursting leech heart interneurons or of phenomenologically reduced phase models. We propose a novel computational tool for detailed examination of polyrhythmic bursting in biophysical CPG models with coupling asymmetries and arbitrary coupling strength. We carr...

* In this TINS special feature, the term ‘microcircuit’ is used to denote a minimal Realistic bottom-up modelling has been seminal to understanding which properties of microcircuits control their dynamic behaviour, such as the locomotor rhythms generated by central pattern generators. In this article of the TINSMicrocircuits Special Feature, we review recent modelling work on the leech-heartbea...

In this paper we study gait transition in a central pattern generator (CPG) model for bipedal locomotion. This model is proposed by Golubitsky, Stewart, Buono and Collins (14; 15) and is studied further by Pinto and Golubitsky (28). It is a network of four coupled identical cells, with D2 symmetry. Each cell is modeled by a system of ordinary differential equations. We briefly review the work d...

In the last years it has become possible to regain some locomotor activity in patients suffering from an incomplete spinal cord injury (SCI) through intense training on a treadmill. The ideas behind this approach owe much to insights derived from animal studies. Many studies showed that cats with complete spinal cord transection can recover locomotor function. These observations were at the bas...

Evolving robot morphologies implies the need for lifetime learning so that newborn robots can learn to manipulate their bodies. An individual’s morphology will obviously combine traits of all its parents; it must adapt its own controller to suit its morphology, and cannot rely on the controller of any one parent to perform well without adaptation. This paper investigates the practicability and ...

To investigate the intraand inter-limb muscle coordination mechanism of human hands-and-knees crawling by means of muscle synergy analysis, surface electromyographic (sEMG) signals of 20 human adults were collected bilaterally from 32 limb related muscles during crawling with hands and knees at different speeds. The nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF) algorithm was exerted on each limb to ex...

The ability to move in complex environments is one of the most important features of humans and animals. In this work, we exploit a bio-inspired method to generate different gaits in a bipedal locomotion system. We use the 4-cell CPG model developed by Pinto [21]. This model has been established on symmetric coupling between the cells which are responsible for generating oscillatory signals. Th...

The central pattern generator for heartbeat in medicinal leeches constitutes seven identified pairs of segmental heart interneurons. Four identified pairs of heart interneurons make a staggered pattern of inhibitory synaptic connections with segmental heart motor neurons. Using extracellular recording from multiple interneurons in the network in 56 isolated nerve cords, we show that this patter...

While there are many instances of single neurons that can drive rhythmic stimulus-elicited motor programs, such neurons have seldom been found to be necessary for motor program function. In the isolated central nervous system of the marine mollusc Tritonia diomedea, brief stimulation (1 sec) of a peripheral nerve activates an interneuronal central pattern generator that produces the long-lastin...