Dynamic Friday Tutorials
DFT tutorial

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...

Target Audience

No specific prior knowledge of the mathematics of dynamical systems models or neural networks is required. An interest in formal approaches to cognition and development is an advantage.

To register, use the link on this page.

Schedule for May 5

The sixth Dynamic Friday event will be held May 5, 2023 at 3:30pm GMT. The event is scheduled for 90min and is meant to be discussion-oriented and hands-on.

Aaron Buss will lead a discussion of the following paper:

  1. 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]

Schedule for March 3

The fifth Dynamic Friday event will be held March 3, 2023 at 3:30pm GMT. The event is scheduled for 90min and is meant to be discussion-oriented and hands-on.

To prepare for the event, please do the following:

  1. If you are unfamiliar with higher-dimensional fields, coordinate transformations, and spatial language grounding, watch the first 80 minutes of the pre-recorded video for the February 3 session: https://ruhr-uni-bochum.sciebo.de/s/xBy8rcdeSoDlgui
  2. Watch the following video, which will convey all you need to know for the session: https://ruhr-uni-bochum.sciebo.de/s/ybi60DW34GvbzkZ
  3. Optionally read the paper Sabinasz, D., & Schöner, G.. (2022). A Neural Dynamic Model Perceptually Grounds Nested Noun Phrases. Topics in Cognitive Science. http://doi.org/10.1111/tops.12630

Schedule for February 3

The fourth Dynamic Friday event will be held February 3, 2023 at 3:30pm GMT. The event is scheduled for 90min and is meant to be discussion-oriented and hands-on.

To prep for the event, please do the following:

  1. Install CEDAR on your computer: https://cedar.ini.rub.de
  2. Watch the introduction to CEDAR here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34B6aW0-E6Y
  3. Watch the video on spatial language grounding, which will convey all you need to know for the session: https://ruhr-uni-bochum.sciebo.de/s/xBy8rcdeSoDlgui
    You may skip the in-depth presentation of the Richter et al. (2014) model if desired (roughly the last 40 minutes of the talk), but then jump to the conclusion (the last 5 minutes)
  4. Optionally follow the tutorials, provided under "Documents", on implementing visual search and spatial language grounding with CEDAR. The result of these tutorials is a simple version of the spatial language grounding architecture that we will discuss in the session.
  5. Optionally read the following two papers if you want more detailed information about the presented models.
    1. Lipinski, J., Schneegans, S., Sandamirskaya, Y., Spencer, J. P., & Schöner, G.. (2012). A Neuro-Behavioral Model of Flexible Spatial Language Behaviors. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition., 38(6), 1490–1511. https://dynamicfieldtheory.org/upload/file/1470692845_fe09e17da927514823a1/LipinskiEtAl2011.pdf
    2. Richter, M., Lins, J., Schneegans, S., Sandamirskaya, Y., & Schöner, G.. (2014). Autonomous Neural Dynamics to Test Hypotheses in a Model of Spatial Language. In P. Bello, Guarini, M., McShane, M., & Scassellati, B. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 36th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 2847–2852). Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society. https://dynamicfieldtheory.org/upload/file/1470692845_573a9c7ffe8e21330360/RichterEtAl2014.pdf
  6. Come ready to discuss, ask questions, get the behind-the-scenes story, etc.

Schedule for December 2nd

The third Dynamic Friday event will be held December 2 at 3:30pm GMT. The event is scheduled for 90min and is meant to be discussion-oriented and hands-on.

To prep for the event, please do the following:

  1. Read the Bhat, Spencer & Samuelson (2022) paper in Psychological Review: https://dynamicfieldtheory.org/upload/file/1663794318_54d75712f369973e825b/BhatSpencerSamuelson2022.pdf
  2. Watch the overview video on the WOLVES 'case study' page: https://dynamicfieldtheory.org/dft_case_studies/wolves/
  3. Install COSIVINA on your computer (see instructions on the case study page)
  4. Run the simulator on your machine to see if it is working -- if you get stuck, don't worry...we can help you debug at the tutorial event.
  5. Come ready to discuss, ask questions, get the behind-the-scenes story, etc.

Schedule for November 4th

The second Dynamic Friday event will be held November 4 at 3:30pm BST (UTC+1). The event is scheduled for 90min and is meant to be discussion-oriented and hands-on.

To prep for the event, please do the following:

  1. Read the Spencer et al (2022) paper in Infancy: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/infa.12457
  2. Watch the video on the spatial attention 'case study' page: https://dynamicfieldtheory.org/dft_case_studies/the_development_of_spatial_attention_the_iowa_model/
  3. Install COSIVINA on your computer (see instructions on the case study page)
  4. Run the simulator on your machine to see if it is working -- if you get stuck, don't worry...we can help you debug on Friday.
  5. Come ready to discuss, ask questions, get the behind-the-scenes story, etc.

Schedule for October 7

The first Dynamic Friday event will be held October 7 at 3:30pm BST (UTC+1). The event is scheduled for 90min and is meant to be discussion-oriented and hands-on.

To prep for the event, please do the following:

  1. Read the Spencer (2020) paper in Current Directions in Psychological Science: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0963721420959835
  2. Watch the videos on the VWM development 'case study' page: https://dynamicfieldtheory.org/dft_case_studies/the_development_of_working_memory/
  3. Install COSIVINA on your computer (see instructions on the case study page)
  4. Run the simulator on your machine to see if it is working -- if you get stuck, don't worry...we can help you debug on Friday.
  5. Come ready to discuss, ask questions, get the behind-the-scenes story, etc.

If you are interested in learning more, check out these two papers:

  1. Perone & Spencer (2013): https://dynamicfieldtheory.org/upload/file/1553697400_14b1159a6e79e4b8be5e/PeroneSpencer_Frontiers_2013.pdf
  2. Perone, Simmering & Spencer (2011): https://dynamicfieldtheory.org/upload/file/1553697280_65e15ac8e8a75d5e2b5c/PeroneSimmeringSpencer2011_OnLine.pdf