Email mike.paulin@otago.ac.nz
Phone 64-3-479-7985
Please visit my research site: Brains, Biomechanics and Movement
Teaching
- MATH 160 Mathmatics 1
- COMO 101 Computational Mathmatics
- COMO 401 Modelling 2
- ZOOL 314 Neurobiology
- ZOOL 316 Biological Data Analysis and Computing
- ZOOL 412 Neurobiology and Behaviour
- MARI 302 Biology and Behaviour of Marine Vertebrates
Research Interests
- Neural and biomechanical mechanisms of animal agility
- Evolutionary-developmental modelling of growth and motion
- 3D interactive graphics with biomedical and robotics applications
Potential Postgraduate Projects
Projects that I supervise will
- involve computational models based on experimental data
- use interactive 3D graphics and animations as tools for exploring and explaining complex systems
- deal with fundamental issues concerning evolution, growth and/or motion of animals
- be related to applications in information processing, robotics and/or biomedicine
- involve collaborations locally (e.g. School of Dentistry) and internationally (e.g. NASA-JPL, California).
Current Postgraduate Students and Student Research
- Rachel Berquist - Electrosensory prey detection in the dogfish
- Rupert Farrow - Coding of head movements in bullfrog vestibular system
- Richard Berry - Interactive 3D model of the mandible with clinical applications in dentistry
Publications
Straka, H., Paulin, M. G., & Hoffman, L. F. (2021). Translations of Steinhausen's publications provide insight into their contributions to peripheral vestibular neuroscience. Frontiers in Neurology, 12, 676723. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2021.676723
Prasad, S., Ramanan, D., Bennani, H., Paulin, M., Cannon, R. D., Palla, S., & Farella, M. (2021). Associations among masticatory muscle activity, physical activity and self-reported oral behaviours in adult women. Clinical Oral Investigations, 25, 5049-5059. doi: 10.1007/s00784-021-03816-9
Prasad, S., Farella, M., Paulin, M., Yao, S., Zhu, Y., & Jansen van Vuuren, L. (2021). Effect of electrode characteristics on electromyographic activity of the masseter muscle. Journal of Electromyography & Kinesiology, 56, 102492. doi: 10.1016/j.jelekin.2020.102492
Paulin, M. G., & Cahill-Lane, J. (2021). Events in early nervous system evolution. Topics in Cognitive Science, 13(1), 25-44. doi: 10.1111/tops.12461
Paulin, M., Pullar, K., & Hoffman, L. (2020). A Bayesian generative model of vestibular afferent neuron spiking. bioRxiv. doi: 10.1101/2020.02.03.933150
Paulin, M. G. (2014). Pattern formation and animal morphogenesis. In N. K. Kasabov (Ed.), Springer handbook of bio-/neuro-informatics. (pp. 73-92). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-30574-0_6
Chapter in Book - Research
Paulin, M. G. (2004). Evolving cerebellar models. In H. Nakagawa, K. Ishii & H. Miyamoto (Eds.), International Congress Series, Volume 1269. (pp. 34-37). Elsevier.
Chapter in Book - Research
Paulin, M. G., & Berquist, R. (2000). Virtual Biobots. In N. Kasabov (Ed.), Future Directions for Intelligent Systems and Information Science. (pp. 174-190). Springer-Verlag.
Chapter in Book - Research
Paulin, M. G., Senn, W., Yarom, Y., Meiri, H., & Cohen, D. (1998). A model of how rapid changes in local input resistance of shark electrosensory neurons could enable the detection of small signals. In J. Bower (Ed.), Computational Neuroscience. (pp. 239-244). New York: Plenum.
Chapter in Book - Research
Paulin, M. G. (1997). Measuring information in firing rates. In J. Bower (Ed.), Computational Neuroscience. (pp. 167-170). Kluwer Academic Press.
Chapter in Book - Research
Paulin, M. G. (1997). The role of the cerebellum in neural representation of moving systems. In J. D. Schmahmann (Ed.), The Cerebellum and Cognition. (pp. 515-533). New York: Academic Press.
Chapter in Book - Research
Paulin, M. G., & Cahill-Lane, J. (2021). Events in early nervous system evolution. Topics in Cognitive Science, 13(1), 25-44. doi: 10.1111/tops.12461
Journal - Research Article
Prasad, S., Farella, M., Paulin, M., Yao, S., Zhu, Y., & Jansen van Vuuren, L. (2021). Effect of electrode characteristics on electromyographic activity of the masseter muscle. Journal of Electromyography & Kinesiology, 56, 102492. doi: 10.1016/j.jelekin.2020.102492
Journal - Research Article
Prasad, S., Ramanan, D., Bennani, H., Paulin, M., Cannon, R. D., Palla, S., & Farella, M. (2021). Associations among masticatory muscle activity, physical activity and self-reported oral behaviours in adult women. Clinical Oral Investigations, 25, 5049-5059. doi: 10.1007/s00784-021-03816-9
Journal - Research Article
Prasad, S., Paulin, M., Cannon, R. D., Palla, S., & Farella, M. (2019). Smartphone-assisted monitoring of masticatory muscle activity in freely moving individuals. Clinical Oral Investigations, 23, 3601-3611. doi: 10.1007/s00784-018-2785-3
Journal - Research Article
Paulin, M., & Green, D. (2018). Mostly harmless: Sharks we have met. Junctures, (19), 117-122.
Journal - Research Article
Bauman, O., Borra, R. J., Bower, J. M., Cullen, K. E., Habas, C., Ivry, R. B., … Paulin, M. G., … Sokolov, A. A. (2015). Consensus paper: The role of the cerebellum in perceptual processes. Cerebellum, 14(2), 197-220. doi: 10.1007/s12311-014-0627-7
Journal - Research Article
Monk, T., Paulin, M. G., & Green, P. (2015). Ecological constraints on the origin of neurones. Journal of Mathematical Biology, 71(6), 1299-1324. doi: 10.1007/s00285-015-0862-7
Journal - Research Article
Monk, T., & Paulin, M. G. (2014). Predation and the origin of neurones. Brain, Behavior & Evolution, 84(4), 246-261. doi: 10.1159/000368177
Journal - Research Article
Monk, T., Green, P., & Paulin, M. (2014). Martingales and fixation probabilities of evolutionary graphs. Proceedings of the Royal Society A, 470(2165), 20130730. doi: 10.1098/rspa.2013.0730
Journal - Research Article
Hashemi Oskouei, A., Paulin, M. G., & Carman, A. B. (2013). Intra-session and inter-day reliability of forearm surface EMG during varying hand grip forces. Journal of Electromyography & Kinesiology, 23(1), 216-222. doi: 10.1016/j.jelekin.2012.08.011
Journal - Research Article
Chyou, T., Liddell, G. F., & Paulin, M. G. (2011). An upper-body can improve the stability and efficiency of passive dynamic walking. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 285(1), 126-135. doi: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2011.06.032
Journal - Research Article
Sowerby, S. J., Mirams, G. J., Hill, P. C., & Paulin, M. G. (2011). An axisymmetric meniscus converges particles for microscopy. Journal of Microscopy, 244(3), 230-234. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2818.2011.03527.x
Journal - Research Article
Vergoz, V., McQuillan, H. J., Geddes, L. H., Pullar, K., Nicholson, B. J., Paulin, M. G., & Mercer, A. R. (2009). Peripheral modulation of worker bee responses to queen mandibular pheromone. PNAS, 106(49), 20930-20935. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0907563106
Journal - Research Article
Rotem, N., Sestieri, E., Cohen, D., Paulin, M., Meiri, H., & Yarom, Y. (2007). The functional architecture of the shark's dorsal-octavolateral nucleus: An in vitro study. Journal of Experimental Biology, 210, 2730-2742. doi: 10.1242/jeb.001784
Journal - Research Article
Paulin, M. G. (2005). Evolution of the cerebellum as a neuronal machine for Bayesian state estimation. Journal of Neural Engineering, 2, S219-S234.
Journal - Research Article
Paulin, M. G. (2005). Evolutionary origins and principles of distributed neural computation for state estimation and movement control in vertebrates. Complexity, 10(3), 56-65.
Journal - Research Article
Kieser, J. A., Paulin, M., & Law, B. (2004). Intrabony course of the inferior alveolar nerve in the edentulous mandible. Clinical Anatomy, 17, 107-111.
Journal - Research Article
Paulin, M. G., Hoffman, L. F., & Assad, C. (2004). Distributed coding by single spikes in the bullfrog vestibular nerve: A basis for dynamical computation in neural systems. Neurocomputing, 58-60, 73-77.
Journal - Research Article
Paulin, M. G., Hoffman, L. F., & Assad, C. (2004). Dynamics and the single spike. IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks, 15(5), 987-994.
Journal - Research Article
Szu, H., Chanyagorn, P., Hwang, W., Paulin, M., & Yamakawa, T. (2004). Collective and distributive swarm intelligence: Evolutional biological survey. International Congress Series, 1269, 46-49.
Journal - Research Article
Assad, C., Hartmann, M., & Paulin, M. G. (2002). Control of a simulated arm using a novel combination of cerebellar learning mechanisms. Neurocomputing, 44, 275-283.
Journal - Research Article
Berquist, R., & Paulin, M. G. (2001). The virtual dogfish: An environment for modelling neural computations in the cerebellar-like circuitry of the elasmobranch electrosensory system. Neurocomputing, 38(40), 1107-1112.
Journal - Research Article
Paulin, M. G., & Hoffman, L. F. (2001). Optimal firing rate estimation. Neural Networks, 14(6-7), 877-881.
Journal - Research Article
Paulin, M. G., & Hoffman, L. F. (2001). State space receptive fields of semicircular canal afferent neurons in the bullfrog. Neurocomputing, 38, 293-298.
Journal - Research Article
Paulin, M. G., Hoffman, L. F., & Assad, C. (2001). A model of cerebellar computations for dynamical state estimation. Autonomous Robots, 11(3), 279-284.
Journal - Research Article
Peacock, L., Paulin, M. G., & Darby, J. (2000). Investigations into climate influence on population dynamics of yellow eyed penguins Megadyptes antipodes. New Zealand Journal of Zoology, 27, 317-325.
Journal - Research Article
Paulin, M. G., & Hoffman, L. F. (1999). Predicting the firing pattern of bullfrog vestibular neurons responding to naturalistic stimuli. Neurocomputing, 26, 223-228.
Journal - Research Article
Paulin, M. G. (1998). A method for analysing neural computation using receptive fields in state space. Neural Networks, 11, 1219-1228.
Journal - Research Article
Paulin, M. G. (1997). The evolutionary origins of image schemas: a commentary on Vandervert's theory. New Ideas in Psychology, 15(2), 133-136.
Journal - Research Article
Paulin, M. G. (1997). The Propagation of errors in sequences of cerebellar theories. Behavioral & Brain Sciences, 20(2), 261-262.
Journal - Research Article
Nelson, M. E., & Paulin, M. (1995). Simulations of adaptive self noise cancellation in the elasmobranch electronsensory system. Journal of Comparative Physiology A, 177, 723-736.
Journal - Research Article
Straka, H., Paulin, M. G., & Hoffman, L. F. (2021). Translations of Steinhausen's publications provide insight into their contributions to peripheral vestibular neuroscience. Frontiers in Neurology, 12, 676723. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2021.676723
Journal - Research Other
Paulin, M. G., & Hoffman, L. F. (2019). Models of vestibular semicircular canal afferent neuron firing activity. Journal of Neurophysiology, 122, 2548-2567. doi: 10.1152/jn.00087.2019
Journal - Research Other
Paulin, M. G. (2004). Spikes are the operands of neural computation. Neural Networks Society Newsletters, 2(2-3), 1-2.
Journal - Research Other
Paulin, M. G. (2004). [Review of the book Neural engineering: Computation, representation and dynamics in neurobiological systems]. Neural Networks, 17, 461-463.
Journal - Professional & Other Non-Research Articles
Campbell, J., Mills, S., & Paulin, M. (2015). Mutual information of image intensity and gradient flux for markerless pose estimation. Proceedings of the International Conference on Image and Vision Computing New Zealand (IVCNZ). 71. IEEE. doi: 10.1109/IVCNZ.2015.7761559
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Full paper
Campbell, J., Mills, S., & Paulin, M. (2014). Kinematic spider tracking with PoseCut. Proceedings of the 29th International Conference on Image and Vision Computing New Zealand (IVCNZ). (pp. 207-211). New York: ACM. doi: 10.1145/2683405.2683441
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Full paper
Hoermann, T. J., Mills, S., Paulin, M., & Reussenzehn, S. (2013). The design and calibration of a 3D motion capture system for arthropods. Proceedings of the 28th International Conference of Image and Vision Computing New Zealand (IVCNZ). (pp. 265-269). IEEE. doi: 10.1109/IVCNZ.2013.6727027
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Full paper
Paulin, M. G., & Hoffman, L. F. (2011). Bayesian head state prediction: Computing the dynamic prior with spiking neurons. Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Natural Computation (ICNC). 1, (pp. 445-449). IEEE. doi: 10.1109/ICNC.2011.6022088
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Full paper
Paulin, M. (2008). Dynanimats: Virtual animals for integrative modeling of neural and biomechanical mechanisms underlying agile movement. Proceedings of the Mathematical Biosciences Institute Biomechanics and Neural Control Workshop. [Video] Retrieved from http://mbi.osu.edu/2007/ws3abstracts.html
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Full paper
Paulin, M. G. (2004). Principles of agility with applications to character animation. Proceedings of the New Zealand Game Developers Conference: Fuse. NZGDC. [Full Paper]
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Full paper
Paulin, M. G. (2001). A dynamical systems approach to neural computation with spikes. Proceedings of the 11th Annual Computational Neuroscience Meeting (CNS*01). [Full Paper]
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Full paper
Paulin, M. G., & Hoffman, L. F. (2000). State-Space Receptive Fields of Semicircular Canal Afferent Neurons: A basis for analyzing neural computation. Proceedings of the 9th Annual Computational Neuroscience Meeting (CNS*00). [Full Paper]
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Full paper
Paulin, M. G., & Hoffman, L. F. (1998). Transfer Function Models of Bullfrog Vestibular Neurons Responding to Naturalistic Stimuli Evaluated using an Information Criterion. Proceedings of the 7th Annual Computational Neuroscience Meeting (CNS*98). [Full Paper]
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Full paper