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DESCRIPTION:Follow your nose: The dynamics of olfactory-guided search\n\nBa
 rd Ermentrout\, University of Pittsburgh\n	Tuesday February 14\, 12-1pm\n	Zo
 om Link: https://mcgill.zoom.us/j/86855481591\n\nAbstract: Olfaction (the 
 sense of smell) is the oldest of our sensory modalities and has been used 
 for millions of years for animals to find mates\, find food\, avoid predat
 ors\, etc. In a large multi-investigator collaboration\, we have begun to 
 try to understand the algorithms animals use to navigate complex odor land
 scapes. I will describe several simple algorithms that use local spatial a
 nd temporal information about the odor to locate its source. The algorithm
 s fall into two simple categories: differences between two sensors and dif
 ferences between two different samples. With data from trail-following and
  spot finding by mice\, I attempt to assess the different strategies and h
 ow parameters in the strategies affect performance. I also test the algori
 thms on odor plumes imaged by my collaborators and also in a mobile robot.
 \n	\n	Underlying these simple algorithms is some interesting nonlinear dynam
 ics. I will discuss the continuous dynamics of binaral search where the or
 ganism uses the concentration differences between two sensors to steer tow
 ard the source. Depending on the odor environment\, various types of compl
 ex dynamics emerge including stable fixed points\, periodic orbits\, torii
 \, and chaos. Secondly\, I will describe a discrete algorithm where the an
 imal samples the concentrations at different time points and uses this com
 parison to determine the heading. By reducing this algorithm to its very s
 implest form\, we are able to also analyze the underlying dynamics. Finall
 y\, I will show the role of “noise” on improving the algorithms and how it
  can be leveraged as a search strategy by exploring a first passage time p
 roblem applied to spot finding.\n	\n	I will also briefly discuss some more m
 athematical approaches to this problem couched in ther language of nonline
 ar dynamics\n
DTSTART:20230214T170000Z
DTEND:20230214T180000Z
SUMMARY:QLS Seminar Series - Bard Ermentrout
URL:/qls/channels/event/qls-seminar-series-bard-erment
 rout-345928
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