Electrical and Computer Engineering

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Dr Paul Davidson

Positions

  • Adjunct Fellow, Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Canterbury.
  • Deputy Director, Christchurch Neurotechnology Research Programme.
  • Neuroscientist and Engineer, Department of Medical Physics and Bioengineering, Canterbury District Health Board.
  • Honorary Fellow, Department of Medicine, University of Otago, Christchurch.

Qualifications

BE(Hons), PhD(Canterbury), MACPSEM, MIEEE

Contact Details

Phone: +64 (3) 378-6073
Fax: +64 (3) 378-6080
paul.davidson@vanderveer.org.nz

Postal Address

Van der Veer Institute for Parkinson's and Brain Research
66 Stewart Street
P.O. Box 2682
Christchurch, New Zealand

Background

Paul received his BE (Hons) and PhD degrees in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Canterbury in 1998 and 2001 respectively. His post-doctoral research was carried out at the Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London (2002) and in the Department of Psychology at Queen's University, Canada (2003). He is currently based at the Van der Veer Institute for Parkinson's and Brain Research in Christchurch.

He is Deputy Director of the Christchurch Neurotechnology Research Programme, a biomedical engineer and neuroscientist in the Department of Medical Physics and Bioengineering of Canterbury District Health Board, an Honorary Fellow in the Department of Medicine at the Christchurch School of Medicine and Health Sciences of the University of Otago, and an Adjunct Fellow in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Canterbury.

Paul is a Member of the Australasian College of Physical Scientists and Engineers in Medicine, a Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, and was “Brain Physiology and Modeling” Track Co-Chair of Neural Engineering Theme at IEEE EMBC 2005 in Shanghai. He is also secretary of the EPSM-ABEC 2008 Conference Organising Committee.

Research Interests

  • Transient lapses in responsiveness, sustained attention, and arousal. Detecting lapses based on electrophysiological and behavioural signal processing.

  • Human motor learning and control, especially internal forward and inverse models.

  • Neural networks, nonlinear and adaptive signal processing techniques applied to biomedical signals.

  • Intelligent, adaptive and bio-mimetic control systems. 

Recent Publications (1999-present)

Davidson, P.R., Jones, R.D. & Peiris, M.T.R. (in press May 2007). EEG-based lapse detection with high temporal resolution. IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.

Peiris, M.T.R., Jones, R.D., Davidson, P.R. & Bones, P.J. (2006). Detecting behavioral microsleeps from EEG power spectra. Proceedings of the 28th Annual International Conference of IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC 2006), 5723-5726.

Peiris, M.T.R., Jones, R.D., Davidson, P.R., Carroll, G.J. & Bones, P.J. (2006). Frequent behavioural microsleeps during an extended visuomotor tracking task in non-sleep-deprived subjects. Journal of Sleep Research, 15 (3), 291-300.

Peiris, M.T.R., Jones, R.D., Davidson, P.R., Bones, P.J. & Myall, D.M. (2005). Fractal dimension of the EEG for detection of behavioural microsleeps. Proceedings of the 27th Annual International IEEE EMBS Conference, 5742-5745.

Peiris, M.T., Jones, R.D., Davidson, P.R., Carroll, G.J., Signal, T.L., Parkin, P.J., et al. (2005). Identification of vigilance lapses using EEG/EOG by expert human raters. Proceedings of the 27th Annual International IEEE EMBS Conference.

Davidson, P.R. & Wolpert, D.M. (2005). Widespread access to predictive models in the motor system: A short review. Journal of Neural Engineering, 2, S313-S319.

Davidson, P.R., Jones, R.D. & Peiris, M.T.R. (2005). Detecting behavioral microsleeps using EEG and LSTM recurrent neural networks. Proceedings of the 27th Annual International IEEE EMBS Conference, 5754-5757.

Davidson, P.R., Wolpert, D.M., Scott, S.H. & Flanagan, J.R. (2005). Common encoding of novel dynamic loads applied to the hand and arm. Journal of Neuroscience, 25 (22), 5425-5429.

Davidson, P.R. & Wolpert, D.M. (2004). Scaling down motor memories: de-adaptation after motor learning. Neuroscience Letters, 370 (2), 102-107.

Davidson, P.R. & Wolpert, D.M. (2004). Internal models underlying grasp can be additively combined. Experimental Brain Research, 155 (3), 334-340.

Tan, J., Jones, R.D., Andreae, J.H., Davidson, P.R., Frampton, C.M., Sirisena, H.R., et al. (2003). Can the oculomotor control system compensate for initial velocity when making a saccade? Proceedings of the 25th International Conference of IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC 2003), 25, 1742-1745.

Tan, J., Jones, R.D., Andreae, J.H., Davidson, P.R., Frampton, C.M., Sirisena, H.R., et al. (2003). Can the oculomotor control system compensate for initial eye velocity when making a saccade? New Zealand Medical Journal, 116 (1174), 155.

Davidson, P.R. & Wolpert, D.M. (2003). Motor learning and prediction in a variable environment. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 13, 1-6.

Tan, J., Jones, R.D., Andreae, J.H., Davidson, P.R., Sirisena, H.R. & Anderson, T.J. (2002). Does the oculomotor control system take eye velocity into account when making a saccade? Australasian Physical & Engineering Sciences in Medicine, 25, 220.

Davidson, P.R., Jones, R.D., Andreae, J.H. & Sirisena, H.R. (2002). Simulating closed- and open-loop voluntary movement : A nonlinear control-systems approach. IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, 49 (11), 1242 -1252.

Davidson, P.R., Jones, R.D., Andreae, J.H. & Sirisena, H.R. (2001, 6-9 December). Computational simulation of open-loop behaviour by the nonlinear Adaptive Model Theory (nAMT). Paper presented at the 6th Biennial Motor Control and Human Skill Research Workshop, Fremantle, Australia.

Davidson, P.R., Jones, R.D., Andreae, J.H. & Sirisena, H.R. (2001, 6-9 December). Detecting adaptive inverse models in the central nervous system. Paper presented at the 6th Biennial Motor Control and Human Skill Research Workshop, Fremantle, Australia.

Davidson, P.R., Jones, R.D., Andreae, J.H. & Sirisena, H.R. (2001). Simulating the open-loop behaviour of the human motor control system. (Abstract). New Zealand Medical Journal, 114 (480).

Davidson, P.R. (2001). Computational modelling of the human motor control system: Nonlinear enhancement of the adaptive model theory through simulation and experiment. PhD Thesis, University of Canterbury, Christchurch.

Davidson, P.R., Jones, R.D., Andreae, J.H. & Sirisena, H.R. (2001). Detecting adaptive inverse models in the central nervous system. Proceedings of the 23rd Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 1, 853-856.

Davidson, P.R., Jones, R.D., Andreae, J.H. & Sirisena, H.R. (2001). Modeling human open-loop tracking behavior. Proceedings of the 23rd Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 1, 836-839.

Davidson, P.R., Jones, R.D., Sirisena, H.R. & Andreae, J.H. (2001). Understanding the role of sensory feedback in the human motor control system (Abstract). New Zealand Medical Journal, 114 (298).

Davidson, P.R., Jones, R.D., Sirisena, H.R. & Andreae, J.H. (2001). Evidence for the formation of inverse motor models in the brain (Abstract). International Journal of Neuroscience, 109, 221.

Davidson, P.R., Jones, R.D., Sirisena, H.R. & Andreae, J.H. (2000). Detection of adaptive inverse models in the human motor system. Human Movement Science, 19 (5), 761-795.

Davidson, P.R., Jones, R.D., Sirisena, H.R., Andreae, J.H. & Neilson, P.D. (1999). Evaluation of a nonlinear generalization of the adaptive model theory. Proceedings of the First Joint Meeting of the BMES/IEEE EMBS, 1, 392.

Davidson, P.R., Jones, R.D., Sirisena, H.R., Andreae, J.H. & Neilson, P.D. (1999). A neurobiologically motivated generalization of the adaptive model theory of human voluntary movement to the control of nonlinear systems. Proceedings of the First Joint Meeting of the BMES/IEEE EMBS, 1, 535.