Neural Control Engineering: The Emerging Intersection between Control Theory and Neuroscience (Hardcover)

Over the past sixty years, powerful methods of model-based control engineering have been responsible for such dramatic advances in engineering systems as autolanding aircraft, autonomous vehicles, and even weather forecasting. Over those same decades, our models of the nervous system have evolved from single-cell membranes to neuronal networks to large-scale models of the human brain. Yet until recently control theory was completely inapplicable to the types of nonlinear models being developed in neuroscience. The revolution in nonlinear control engineering in the late 1990s has made the intersection of control theory and neuroscience possible. In Neural Control Engineering, Steven Schiff seeks to bridge the two fields, examining the application of new methods in nonlinear control engineering to neuroscience. After presenting extensive material on formulating computational neuroscience models in a control environment--including some fundamentals of the algorithms helpful in crossing the divide from intuition to effective application--Schiff examines a range of applications, including brain-machine interfaces and neural stimulation. He reports on research that he and his colleagues have undertaken showing that nonlinear control theory methods can be applied to models of single cells, small neuronal networks, and large-scale networks in disease states of Parkinson's disease and epilepsy. With Neural Control Engineering the reader acquires a working knowledge of the fundamentals of control theory and computational neuroscience sufficient not only to understand the literature in this trandisciplinary area but also to begin working to advance the field. The book will serve as an essential guide for scientists in either biology or engineering and for physicians who wish to gain expertise in these areas.

在過去的六十年中，基於模型的控制工程方法在工程系統中取得了巨大的進展，例如自動降落飛機、自主車輛，甚至天氣預報。在同樣的幾十年中，我們對神經系統的模型從單細胞膜發展到神經元網絡，再到人類大腦的大規模模型。然而，直到最近，控制理論對於神經科學中正在發展的非線性模型完全無法應用。在1990年代末非線性控制工程的革命使得控制理論和神經科學的交叉成為可能。在《神經控制工程》一書中，Steven Schiff試圖搭起這兩個領域之間的橋樑，探討非線性控制工程方法在神經科學中的應用。在介紹了在控制環境中制定計算神經科學模型的廣泛材料後，包括一些有助於從直覺到有效應用的算法基礎，Schiff還研究了一系列應用，包括腦機接口和神經刺激。他報告了他和他的同事進行的研究，顯示非線性控制理論方法可以應用於單個細胞、小型神經網絡和帕金森病和癲癇病的疾病狀態下的大規模網絡模型。通過《神經控制工程》，讀者可以獲得控制理論和計算神經科學基礎的實際知識，不僅能夠理解這個跨學科領域的文獻，還能夠開始努力推進這一領域的發展。這本書將成為生物學或工程學科的科學家以及希望在這些領域獲得專業知識的醫生的重要指南。