Hands-on Neural Process Modeling through Dynamic Field Theory

While psychonomic research would ideally be theoretically grounded in neural process accounts, practical methods to deliver such accounts remain limited, recent advances in neural AI notwithstanding. Dynamic Field Theory provides such methods that have a broad reach from psychophysics to grounded, embodied, and higher cognition. In a gentle introduction, the workshop will give introduce the core ideas of DFT and will illustrate how DFT models and architecture can be built and simulated to account for cognitive function.

Neuronal Dynamics for Embodied Cognition 2024

Our annual summer school gives students an in-depth look at dynamic field theory over the course of an intense and fun week. The summer school covers everything from the basics of dynamic field theory up to our latest research projects. Students learn the theoretical background in informal lectures but the main emphasis of the summer school is hands-on work on exercises and individual projects. This gives students a lot of time to collaborate and discuss in small groups and under close supervision of our tutors.

Neuronal Dynamics for Embodied Cognition 2023

Our annual summer school gives students an in-depth look at dynamic field theory over the course of an intense and fun week. The summer school covers everything from the basics of dynamic field theory up to our latest research projects. Students learn the theoretical background in informal lectures but the main emphasis of the summer school is hands-on work on exercises and individual projects. This gives students a lot of time to collaborate and discuss in small groups and under close supervision of our tutors.

Neural Dynamics for Embodied Cognition (IK2023)

Dynamic Field Theory (DFT) provides a mathematical framework in which the emergence of cognition from its sensorimotor grounding can be understood. The activation dynamics of neural populations are organized as strongly recurrent neural networks that stabilize neural representations. Instabilities generate state transitions from which sequences of mental and motor acts emerge.
The tutorial will introduce the core concepts of DFT, while providing hands-on exercises and projects that make use of these concepts to build models of grounded cognition. We will discuss how DFT relates to other approaches to cognition.

Dynamic Friday Tutorials (DFT!)

The goal of the Dynamic Friday Tutorials is to build the DFT community by presenting 'case study' tutorials in an on-line, discussion-oriented, and hands-on environment. The next case study will examine how to test dynamic field models using neuroimaging tools:

1. May 5: Buss, A.T., Magnotta, V., Penny, W., Schöner, G., Huppert, T. & Spencer, J.P. (2021). How do neural processes give rise to cognition? Simultaneously predicting brain and behavior with a dynamic model of visual working memory. Psychological Review, http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/rev0000264 [download preprint]

In advance of the meeting, attendees are welcome preview the paper slated for discussion. Then, on the day of the event, the presenter will give an overview of the paper (e.g., 60-min talk) and open the floor for an on-line discussion. We will make an effort to include a discussion of the hands-on implementation of the model using, for instance, CEDAR or COSIVINA. The goal is to unpack the model and to help facilitate work with dynamic field models more generally.

Sessions will run from 3:30-5pm UK time (10:30am Eastern Standard Time in the US; 4:30pm in Europe)

For details on the next event, click on the 'Schedule' link above...

Dynamic Field Theory: Conceptual Foundations and Applications in Developmental Science

Dynamical Systems thinking has been influential in the way psychologists, cognitive scientists, and neuroscientists think about sensori-motor behavior and its development. The initial emphasis on motor behavior was expanded when the concept of dynamic activation fields provided access to embodied cognition. Dynamical Field Theory (DFT) offers a framework for thinking about representation-in-the-moment that is firmly grounded in both Dynamical Systems thinking and neurophysiology. Dynamic Neural Fields are formalizations of how neural populations represent the continuous dimensions that characterize perceptual features, movements, and cognitive decisions. Neural fields evolve dynamically under the influence of inputs as well as strong neuronal interaction, generating elementary forms of cognition through dynamical instabilities. The concepts of DFT establish links between brain and behavior, helping to define experimental paradigms in which behavioral signatures of specific neural mechanisms can be observed. These paradigms can be modeled with Dynamic Neural Fields, deriving testable predictions and providing quantitative accounts of behavior.

One obstacle for researchers wishing to use DFT has been that the mathematical and technical skills required to make these concepts operational are not part of the standard repertoire of cognitive and developmental scientists. The goal of this tutorial is to provide the training and tools to overcome this obstacle. We will provide a systematic introduction to the central concepts of DFT and their grounding in both Dynamical Systems concepts and neurophysiology. We will discuss the concrete mathematical implementation of these concepts in Dynamic Neural Field models, giving all needed background and providing participants with some hands-on experience using interactive simulators in MATLAB. Finally, we will take participants through a number of selected, exemplary case studies in which the concepts and associated models have been used to ask questions about elementary forms of embodied cognition and their development.

A published book on DF modeling, Dynamic Thinking: A Primer on Dynamic Field Theory, covers these topics and more, with interactive simulators available to give hands-on experience to readers. We will take participants through the process of building and simulating models to illustrate key concepts in the case studies we describe in the tutorial.

Neural Dynamics for Embodied Cognition

Both in an evolutionary and a developmental perspective, cognition emerges from sensorimotor behaviors that become increasingly invariant and abstract. These sensorimotor origins of cognition explain why mental processes are so intimately intertwined with perceptual and motor processes, and share key properties, including, most prominently, the continuity of processing in state and time, and the dynamic stability of functionally meaningful states.

The mathematical framework of Dynamic Field Theory (Schöner, Spencer, and the DFT research group, 2016) makes these hypotheses explicit by postulating that cognition is based on the activation dynamics of neural populations organized as strongly recurrent neural networks that stabilize neural representations. Instabilities of such neural representations generate the state transitions that build sequences of mental and motor acts.

DFT enables models of cognition in two flavors. (1) Psychophysical experiments can be accounted for in neural process models that instantiate specific cognitive and behavioral competences such as visual attention, working memory, change detection, executive control, and many more. Current research probes how far toward higher cognition such embodied neural process accounts may reach (Richter, Lins, Schöner, 2021). (2) DFT models can also be used to generate behavior and thought in autonomous agents that are situated in structured environment and ultimately produce motor behavior (Tekülve et al., 2019). Learning the concepts of DFT may enable cognitive scientists to broaden the reach of their theoretical work toward neurally grounded models. Integration across many different types of processes from the sensorimotor level to higher cognition is a key element of DFT. This may provide a useful complement to students typical training in computational concepts of system integration. Ultimately, understanding the need for stability in neural approaches to cognition will be a unique insight from this short workshop.

Virtual Summer School: Neuronal Dynamics for Embodied Cognition 2022

Our annual summer school gives students an in-depth look at dynamic field theory over the course of a single week. The summer school covers everything from the basics of dynamic field theory up to our latest research projects. 

This virtual edition of our summer school will consist of two parts: A live-lecture series and a hands-on workshop.

The lecture series will be held as a video conference and provides a step-by-step introduction to Dynamic Field Theory. It is open to everyone; you only have to register with your email address. Lectures will take place from August 15 to August 20 between 3:00 and 6:00 pm (UTC +2).

The two-and-a-half-day project workshop gives students the opportunity to put the newly acquired skills to use in a concrete hands-on modeling project. Students solve the task in our open-source simulation environment under the guidance of a personal tutor. The one-on-one tutoring limits the number of participants who can take part in the workshop. To apply, please fill out the online application form, which asks for a cover letter and a CV as well as some other information that we use to prepare projects for you. We encourage workshop applications by small groups of participants, maybe two or three colleagues who will work together locally on the same project and may share a tutor. All participants of such a group should apply separately and list their potential group partners in the application form. The workshop will take place August 18-20. Personal tutoring via video conference will be available on each workshop day at flexible hours.

Participation in any part of the school is free of charge.

Virtual Summer School: Neuronal Dynamics for Embodied Cognition 2021

Our annual summer school gives students an in-depth look at dynamic field theory over the course of a single week. The summer school covers everything from the basics of dynamic field theory up to our latest research projects. 

This virtual edition of our summer school will consist of two parts: A live-lecture series and a hands-on workshop.

The lecture series will be held as a video conference and provides a step-by-step introduction to Dynamic Field Theory. It is open to everyone; you only have to register with your email address. Lectures will take place from September 6 to September 10 between 3:00 and 6:00 pm (UTC +2).

The two-and-a-half-day project workshop gives students the opportunity to put the newly acquired skills to use in a concrete hands-on modeling project. Students solve the task in our open-source simulation environment under the guidance of a personal tutor. The one-on-one tutoring limits the number of participants who can take part in the workshop. To apply, please fill out the online application form, which asks for a cover letter and a CV as well as some other information that we use to prepare projects for you. We encourage workshop applications by small groups of participants, maybe two or three colleagues who will work together locally on the same project and may share a tutor. All participants of such a group should apply separately and list their potential group partners in the application form. The workshop will take place September 9-11. Personal tutoring via video conference will be available on each workshop day at flexible hours.

Participation in any part of the school is free of charge.

Virtual Summer School: Neuronal Dynamics for Embodied Cognition 2020

Our annual summer school gives students an in-depth look at dynamic field theory over the course of a single week. The summer school covers everything from the basics of dynamic field theory up to our latest research projects. 

This virtual edition of our summer school will consist of two parts: A live-lecture series and a hands-on workshop.

The lecture series will be held as a video conference and provides a step-by-step introduction to Dynamic Field Theory. It is open to everyone; you only have to register with your email address. Lectures will take place from August 31 to September 4 between 3:00 and 6:00 pm (UTC +2).

The two-and-a-half-day project workshop gives students the opportunity to put the newly acquired skills to use in a concrete hands-on modeling project. Students solve the task in our open-source simulation environment under the guidance of a personal tutor. The one-on-one tutoring limits the number of participants who can take part in the workshop. To apply, please fill out the online application form, which asks for a cover letter and a CV as well as some other information that we use to prepare projects for you. We encourage workshop applications by small groups of participants, maybe two or three colleagues who will work together locally on the same project and may share a tutor. All participants of such a group should apply separately and list their potential group partners in the application form. The workshop will take place September 3-5. Personal tutoring via video conference will be available on each workshop day at flexible hours.

Participation in any part of the school is free of charge.

Neuronal dynamics for cognitive robotics 2019

Our annual summer school gives students an in-depth look at dynamic field theory over the course of an intense and fun week. The summer school covers everything from the basics of dynamic field theory up to our latest research projects. Students learn the theoretical background in informal lectures but the main emphasis of the summer school is hands-on work on exercises and individual projects. This gives students a lot of time to collaborate and discuss in small groups and under close supervision of our tutors.