Topic: Complex behaviors

Complex behaviors are constructed out of simple building blocks. The construction of complex behaviors presents an interesting problem when the behavioral building blocks are driven by independent neural dynamics, as is the case for behaviors that recruit central-pattern generators (CPGs). Breathing is a particularly interesting example since it is vital for sustaining life and yet breathing is integrated into a myriad of other behaviors like speaking, laughing, and coughing. Vocalizations co-opt respiratory machinery for communication. While the generation of vocal motor commands is generally

The ability to combine simple learned elements (primitives) and create novel complex behaviors is a fundamental aspect of cognition in biological brains. However, composing computational primitives in artificial neural networks remains a significant challenge, suggesting that biological systems may possess structural priors which enhance this capability. In this study, we examine the mechanisms by which network structure facilitates flexible compositions of computational primitives. To investigate this question, we analyze recurrent neural networks (RNNs) that perform a temporal vector additio

The assessment and quantification of human and animal behavior is essential for various applications in Neuroscience. Experts can accurately annotate complex behaviors, but doing so is a tedious and time-consuming task. Here we describe a Python toolbox, called DLC2action, that enables the automatic annotation of complex behaviors directly from videos, extracted poses and/or additional features such as deep video features, built on state-of-the-art deep-learning based action segmentation algorithms. We illustrate the capabilities of this open-source toolbox on a broad range of datasets for hum