 David J. Craig

David J. Craig is the credited writer of Boston University's 14 November 2003 account of research connecting dynamical systems, biology and biomedical engineering. His article describes James J. Collins's work on noise and sensation, including vibrating gel insoles intended to improve the detection of weak pressure signals from the feet. This is a contribution to communicating the research; the article attributes the experimental work to the researchers.^[ref]

The scientific puzzle in that account is stochastic resonance: under suitable conditions, adding noise can improve the detection of a weak signal. A simple explanatory model is a detector that responds when $x+\eta >\theta$, where $x$ is the signal, $\eta$ the noise and $\theta$ a threshold. If $x<\theta$, a detector without noise never responds; a fluctuating $\eta$ gives a nonzero probability of crossing the threshold. The same noise can also produce a response when the signal is absent, so an increase in threshold crossings alone does not establish improved discrimination. Craig's account places this counterintuitive mechanism in the concrete setting of mechanical stimulation of the sole rather than claiming that noise always helps.^[ref]