Wilson, S. orcid.org/0000-0001-8125-5133 (2017) Self-organising Thermoregulatory Huddling in a Model of Soft Deformable Littermates. In: Mangan , M., Cutkosky , M., Mura, A., Verschure, P., Prescott, T. and Lepora, N., (eds.) Living Machines 2017: Biomimetic and Biohybrid Systems. Conference on Biomimetic and Biohybrid Systems, 26-28 Jul 2017, Stanford, CA, USA. Lecture Notes in Computer Science . Springer Verlag , pp. 487-496. ISBN 978-3-319-63536-1
Abstract
Thermoregulatory huddling behaviours dominate the early experiences of developing rodents, and constrain the patterns of sensory and motor input that drive neural plasticity. Huddling is a complex emergent group behaviour, thought to provide an early template for the development of adult social systems, and to constrain natural selection on metabolic physiology. However, huddling behaviours are governed by simple rules of interaction between individuals, which can be described in terms of the thermodynamics of heat exchange, and can be easily controlled by manipulation of the environment temperature. Thermoregulatory huddling thus provides an opportunity to investigate the effects of early experience on brain development in a social, developmental, and evolutionary context, through controlled experimentation. This paper demonstrates that thermoregulatory huddling behaviours can self-organise in a simulation of rodent littermates modelled as soft-deformable bodies that exchange heat during contact. The paper presents a novel methodology, based on techniques in computer animation, for simulating the early sensory and motor experiences of the developing rodent.
Metadata
Item Type: | Proceedings Paper |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Editors: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © Springer International Publishing AG 2017. This is an author-produced version of a paper accepted for publication in Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. The final publication is available at Springer via https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63537-8_41. |
Keywords: | Self-organisation; Thermoregulation; Huddling; Shape-matching |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > Department of Psychology (Sheffield) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number European Commission 720270 (HBP SGA1) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 22 Nov 2017 10:41 |
Last Modified: | 22 Nov 2017 10:56 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63537-8_41 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Springer Verlag |
Series Name: | Lecture Notes in Computer Science |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1007/978-3-319-63537-8_41 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:124094 |