Living organisms are extraordinarily well adapted to their specific biological niche, a result of millions of years of evolution and the associated interaction of living organisms with their environment during their lifetime. In particular, the information pathways in nervous systems have a prototypical character for engineers when it comes to pattern recognition and cognitive tasks, for example. The associated information processing represents attractive guidelines for completely new computer architectures. Through concentrated research by a multidisciplinary team from the fields of neuroscience, biology, psychology, physics, electrical engineering, materials science, network science and non-linear dynamics, fundamental information pathways in selected nervous systems will be investigated with regard to their relevance for novel hardware-orientated information processing systems.
Abstract models of information processes in nervous systems form a bridge to bio-inspired electronics. Conversely, the theoretical superstructure and the experimental findings in neuromorphic circuits will lead to a better understanding of information processing in nervous systems, as new biologically relevant questions are posed. The key element in the biological part of CRC 1461 is the investigation and identification of topological and dynamic phenomena in early evolutionary organisms. The nested mechanisms of neuronal synchronisation, self-organised criticality, plasticity, connectomics and nerve growth under external stimuli are essential elements of CRC 1461. Together with memristive and memristive components, mechanical-electrical microsystems (MEMS) and application-specific integrated circuit technology (ASIC), the aim is to open up a new page in information technology.
