Sequence generation in dynamic field theory [Elektronische Ressource] / von Yulia Sandamirskaya

Sequence generationin Dynamic Field TheoryDISSERTATIONzurErlangung des Grades\Doktor der Naturwissenschaften"an der Fakult at fur Physik und Astronomieder Ruhr-Universit at BochumvonYulia SandamirskayaausMinsk, BelarusBochum, 20101. Gutachter: Prof. Dr. Gregor Sch oner2. Gutachter: Prof. Dr. Laurenz WiskottDatum der Disputation: 16.12.2010iiAbstractCognitive processes are responsible for the complexity of human behaviorthat is not exclusively controlled by sensory input but depends on the innerstate of the nervous system. In embodied cognition, the link between theneural processes underlying cognition and the sensory-motor processes thatconnect an organism or agent to the physical world is taken seriously. Thismeans, in particular, that the temporal continuity and graded nature ofperceptual, cognitive, and motor processes and of the neural dynamics sup-porting these are taken into account. Because cognitive and neural processesmay evolve on di erent time-scales, a theoretical challenge is to understandhow fast neural processes may generate slow behavioral processes.This problem is particularly apparent in sequence generation, a central prob-lem of embodied cognition. A fast neural dynamics producing a sequenceof states must generate behaviors that unfold in the physical world.