NSCI 492, Computational Neuroscience, Spring 2008
Motor control and planning

http://www.tulane.edu/~howard/nsci/
Time and place: W 10-10:50; MW: Newcomb 442

Prof. Harry Howard

862-3417 (voice mail 24 hours a day)
Newcomb Hall 322-D
Office hours: MWF 11-12 and by appointment

Code of Academic Integrity

“The integrity of Newcomb-Tulane College is based on the absolute honesty of the entire community in all academic endeavors. As part of the Tulane University community, students have certain responsibilities regarding work that forms the basis for the evaluation of their academic achievement. Students are expected to be familiar with these responsibilities at all times. No member of the university community should tolerate any form of academic dishonesty, because the scholarly community of the university depends on the willingness of both instructors and students to uphold the Code of Academic Conduct. When a violation of the Code of Academic Conduct is observed it is the duty of every member of the academic community who has evidence of the violation to take action. Students should take steps to uphold the code by reporting any suspected offense to the instructor or the associate dean of the college. Students should under no circumstances tolerate any form of academic dishonesty.” For further information, point your browser at http://college.tulane.edu/honorcode.htm.

Violations of the Code of Academic Integrity will not be tolerated in this class. I will rigorously investigate and pursue any such transgression.

Students with disabilities who need academic accommodation should:

• Contact and register with the Office of Disability Services (ODS). For more information, visit the ODS website at http://erc.tulane.edu/disability/.
• Bring official notice to me from the ODS indicating that you need academic accommodation. This should be done before the first project is due.

Schedule of readings and assignments, Spring 2008
Date	Topic	Readings, exercises, etc	Slides
Feb 22	Introduction to AI, with special reference to robotic motor controllers	Newman, D. Jay (2006) Linux Robotics. Programming smarter robots. §5 Behavioral programming. Predko, Myke (2003) Programming Robot Controllers. §5 Bringing your robot to life. Preston, Scott (2006) The Definitive Guide to Building Java Robots. §7 Navigation.
27	Actions in languageand in the brain	Text of grant proposal by Howard
29	The basal ganglia and the Khepera rat	Gurney, K.N. et al., 2004, Computational models of the basal ganglia: from robots to membranes, Trends in Neurosciences, 27, 453-459. Prescott, T.J. et al., 2006, A robot model of the basal ganglia: behavior and intrinsic processing, Neural Networks, 19, 31-61.
March 5
12	Computation in the basal ganglia	Code for the articles: http://senselab.med.yale.edu/ModelDB/ShowModel.asp?model=83560
17-21	SPRING BREAK - NO CLASS
26
April 2	ACT-R and multitasking	Salvucci, D.D. and N.A. Taatgen, 2008, Threaded cognition: an integrated theory of concurrent multitasking, Psychological Review, 115, 101-130.
9	ACT-R and multitasking code	ACT-R multithreading
16
23
30
		(finals from May 2 - 9)

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