| For a sensorimotor network to generate adaptive behavior in the environment, the phases of the behavior must be appropriately timed. When the behavior is driven simply by the sensory stimuli from the environment, these can supply the timing. But when the behavior is driven by an internal "goal" that ignores and perhaps even opposes the immediate sensory stimuli, the timing must be generated internally by the network. We have modeled a realistic behavioral scenario that requires such internal timing.

When the sea slug Aplysia feeds, it incrementally ingests long strips of seaweed, driven by ingestive stimuli emanating from the seaweed. But if, having ingested a strip, the animal fails to break the... |
