Summer School
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Pre-School-Rdgs/Assmts
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The concepts of Dynamical Systems Theory have impacted the way psychologists, cognitive scientists, and neuroscientists think about sensori-motor behavior and embodied cognition. These concepts have had a particularly strong impact in developmental science, changing the way questions are asked, experiments are designed, and theoretical models are formulated.

A critical step for Dynamical Systems thinking has been the move from its initial setting in motor development into cognitive function. Dynamic Field Theory (DFT) has provided the bridge from motor to cognitive development, offering a framework for thinking about representation-in-the-moment that is firmly grounded in both Dynamical Systems thinking and neurophysiology.

The concepts of DFT have been implemented using Dynamic Neural Fields (DNFs) which formalize how neural populations represent the continuous dimensions that characterize perceptual features, movements, and cognitive decisions. Through this class of neural networks, DFT establishes links between brain and behavior, helping to define experimental paradigms where signatures of specific neural mechanisms can be observed. These paradigms have led to new insights into the nature of cognition in infancy, the processes that underlie working memory in young children, and key changes in early language development. These innovations are connected to advances in neuroscience and cognitive science, as well as the field of autonomous robotics.

One obstacle for researchers wishing to use DFT has been the mathematical and technical skills required to make the ideas operational. The goal of the school is to provide the tools needed to overcome this hurdle. We will provide an overview of the central concepts of DFT and their grounding in both Dynamical Systems concepts and neurophysiology. We will also discuss the concrete implementation of these concepts, providing the group with hands-on experience using simulators in Matlab.

The DFT Summer School will offer cutting-edge, interdisciplinary training for developmental scientists that will enable attendees to make the next wave of innovations in their own fields. We will achieve this outcome by bringing together an international team of tutors to work intensively—one-on-one—with scholars attending the school. The team we have assembled is truly interdisciplinary and includes scholars from the fields of theoretical physics, mathematics, robotics, and developmental science.