The “Statistical Physics of Cognition” workshop, led by Fernando De Andraca, aims to bring together a diverse group of experts — including theoreticians, experimentalists, modellers, and data analysts — to explore statistical physics-based approaches to understanding how the brain works.
Statistical physics has developed methods for more than a hundred years to describe the emergence of macroscopic properties in physical systems. If cognition is an emergent macroscopic property of the intricate collective dynamics of networks of neurons, then approaches from Statistical Physics are ideally placed to address how it emerges. It is, therefore, natural to combine experiments on neuronal systems with statistical physics analyses to address cognition as a collective, macroscopic phenomenon.
This two-day workshop will focus on the collective dynamics of neurons and how cognition, or even the mind and consciousness, may emerge. Biological neural networks have been observed to form activation patterns in the form of avalanches, which propagate through the brain following statistics suggesting that critical dynamics are relevant. Analysing neuronal activity using methods from network science and information theory together with neural field theory develops a multifaceted picture of hierarchies of brain dynamics. The meeting will explore how to reconcile the findings of different experimental and analysis approaches, and thereby explore cognition as the macroscopic result of multiple dynamical relations operating at a range of scales in space and time.
The workshop will include a public event featuring a debate between prominent scientists and philosophers on the topic “Can reductionism explain the mind?” This event aims to push the boundaries of our scientific knowledge of the brain, and discuss what are the tools needed to develop a holistic understanding of how it works.
This event will be held at the IOP HQ in London on 25/26th November 2024 (timings TBC).