9315322 Hockberger The goal of this project is to build a bridge between advanced concepts of neurocontrol from neuroengineering, and substantial experimental evidence on control systems in higher organisms. Past collaborations between biologist and experts in neurocontrol have been relatively few and theoretical in nature (Madhavan et al., 1993). On theoretical grounds, they have suggested that the inferior olive in the mammalian brain is an example of what is called an "adaptive critic" network in neuroengineering. The purpose of this project is to provide the first serious experimental evaluation of the theory, and if possible, some empirical understanding of the learning mechanisms used to adapt that network. If successful, this project should open the door to much better two-way communication between theory and experiment, to the benefit of both; thus learning mechanisms in the brain once identified might in engineering, and ideas from engineering might be used to develop a more mathematical understanding of these circuits. The results form this project will be incorporated into ongoing theoretical collaborations between biologist and engineers. ***
