Recently, the research findings entitled “Mammalian-brain-inspired neuromorphic motion-cognition nerve achieves cross-modal perceptual enhancement” from the College of Electronic Information and Optical Engineering at Nankai University were published in the world-renowned academic journal Nature Communications. According to this paper, flexible artificial synapse devices are used to develop a neuromorphic motion perception system, which realizes the brain’s multi-sensory functions at hardware level and obtains excellent motion perception performance. Dr. Jiang Chengpeng, from the College of Electronic Information and Optical Engineering at Nankai University, is the first author, and Professor Xu Wentao, from the College of Electronic Information and Optical Engineering at Nankai University, is the only corresponding author. 

The design of the neuromorphic motion perception system is inspired by the macaque’s multisensory integration and spatial perception mechanisms (Fig. 1). A macaque’s self-motion will stimulate motion information such as inertial signals and optical flow signals in the vestibule and the retina. The specific areas of the cerebral cortex will process and identify the motion information encoded as spike pulse, and then realize spatial perception by integrating information from different sensory modalities. Accelerometers and gyroscopes in the neuromorphic motion perception system acquire acceleration and angular velocity signals, respectively, which are encoded into two spike trains that are transmitted to high-performance synaptic transistors for processing. The correlation between the two pulse sequences as well as their temporal relationship affect the synaptic plasticity of the device, thereby affecting the device output. The motion signals are classified and identified by evaluating the average firing rate of the pulse and the output current of the synaptic device.