Cognitive Science 200 Seminar
Spring, 1997

COGNITION AS COMPUTATION
VERSUS
MIND AS MOTION

Dynamical Systems Theory and
The Contemporary Status of the
Information Processing Model of Thought

• General Description
• Meeting Schedule
• Student Summaries
• Electronic Discussion List Information
• Related Web Sites

• Time: Fridays, 2 P.M. - 4 P.M. (Student session: 12 P.M. - 1 P.M.)
• Place: Cognitive Science Building, Room 003, UCSD
• Registrar's SID: 277645
• Text: Mind as Motion: Explorations in the Dynamics of Cognition
• Organizers: David Noelle & Dan Clouse
• Administration: Walt Savitch

Seminar Description

Human cognition is dynamic. Timing plays a critical role in most all aspects of our behavior. The world presents us with temporal patterns of many kinds: the stalking motion of a camouflaged preditor, the widening of a smile, the acoustic stream of speech, the development of a dialogue. Our actions are also embedded in time: maintaining a rhythmic gait, reaching and grasping, generating speech, participating in a coordinated hunt. Cognitive processes ranging from memory retrieval to creative problem solving all unfold over time.

In this seminar, we will take time seriously. Using Robert Port's and Timothy van Gelder's book, Mind as Motion: Explorations in the Dynamics of Cognition as a guide, we will explore the applicability of dynamical systems theory to the understanding of mind and brain. The authors of this text contend that the information processing approach to cognitive modeling should be abandoned in favor of an approach based on coupled differential equations, attractors, and bifurcations. We will critically examine this claim, weighing the respective benefits of the computational and dynamical metaphors.

This seminar will provide a basic introduction to dynamical systems theory and will survey its application to studies in cognition. Mind as Motion presents applications to the understanding of visual perception, motor control, speech understanding, concept formation, and the development of both motor and language skills in children. The seminar is intended to be accessible to the broad range of cognitive science researchers at UCSD. Please join us!

This seminar is being organized by David Noelle and Dan Clouse. Please direct questions to us at "noelle@acm.org". While not required to do so, students may register for this seminar as a graduate level course. Registered students are required to attend a student discussion session on Fridays, from 12 P.M. to 1 P.M., in room CSB 003. The registrar's section identification number for this class is 277645.