Projects

Resonance

We are using virtual reality (VR) and EEG to study the dynamical properties of a well-known psychological task – the Fitt’s Task. The first aim of the project is to examine the perceptual information that participants use to control their movements during the Task. This is a study at the scale of behavior. The second aim is to investigate whether the perceptual information used by the participants constrains brain dynamics through a process called “resonance” (as described in the ecological psychology literature). This is a study at the scale of neural activity, combining the use of virtual environments and EEG methods. ​

Questions? ​Contact Vicente Raja or Jonathan Bowen!

Figure (Right): psychology by HeadsOfBirds from the Noun Project.

Minimal Cognitive Agents

​We seek to study the relationship(s) between behavior and brain activity using minimal cognitive agents (MCAs). MCAs are models that use simple neural networks to exhibit simple behaviors. Using simulations of MCAs we aim to explore the relevant behavior-brain activity relationships, their complexity, and their critical features.

Questions? Contact Vicente Raja or Varun Ravikumar!

Figure (Right): AI KNOWLEDGE by Vectors Market from the Noun Project

The Meaning of Information

This project aims to examine and compare how information is defined in predictive processing, ecological psychology, and embodied cognition. We aim to examine how differing notions of information lead to different understandings of the roles that the brain, body, and environment plays in cognition and behavior. One of our central concerns is that the notions of information used in predictive processing—thermodynamic and Shannon information—result in an epistemic divide between organisms and their environments. We are exploring how the notions of information used in ecological psychology and embodied cognition might be able to avoid this epistemic problem. 

Questions? Contact Mike Anderson or Tyeson Barton!

Figure (Right):  environment by Nithinan Tatah from the Noun Project

Enabling Constraints

An enabling constraint is something that fixes some of the degrees of freedom in a system so as to allow that system to function properly. This project seeks to discover the enabling constraints that play a role in stabilizing brain-body-environment systems and to establish the importance of enabling constraints in explanations of function (including, most recently, explanations of skill learning).

Questions? Contact Vicente Raja or Mike Anderson!

Figure (Right): arc by Akyo Nishiura from the Noun Project.

Embodied Learning

Where does learning happen? What is it that changes as we learn a new skill? An obvious answer is that structure of the brain changes. This is true. But if we take a wider view of the process of learning, we see that brain changes alone are not enough. For example, consider learning to stand upright. The process of learning to stand upright involves attending to patterns of visual information flow, holding on to furniture, gaining strength in the muscles of our limbs, etc. By seeking to understand learning as an embodied process, and not merely a change in the brain, we hope to gain new insights on how human behavior comes to acquire its richness.

Questions? Contact Ed Baggs!

Figure (Right): biking by Lluisa Iborra from the Noun Project.

Neurorehabilitation

We seek to investigate the relevance of ecological and dynamical perception-action approaches for the neural rehabilitation of individuals. Gibson’s ecological approach focuses on possibilities for action (affordances) while the dynamical systems approach accounts for movement patterns as they develop over time. Our first aim is to address the gap between the theoretical viewpoints and therapeutic procedures in rehabilitation for both neurotypical and non-neurotypical individuals. Our second aim is to emphasize perception-action systems and the importance of neurological control of behaviour-action for rehabilitation purposes, and vice versa.

Questions? Contact Aubrie Shettler or Katrina Zmavc!

Figure (Right): neuron by Eucalyp from the Noun Project.

Embodiment and Split Brains

We seek to investigate Elizabeth Schecter’s (2018) treatment of the consciousness of split-brain patients through the lens of embodiment. In contrast to Schechter, who focuses almost entirely on the inner neural processing and simple responses of split-brain patients in highly controlled experimental settings, we aim to focus instead on the totality of behaviours of the whole embodied subject. For instance, patients seem to use various compensatory behaviors, such as self-cueing with gesture and writing with one hand upon the other, to overcome the obviously and otherwise disabling effects of their commissurotomy.

Questions? Contact Jonathan Bowen!

Figure (Right): Brain by Clockwise from the Noun Project.

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