The Dynamicist Landscape

2023/10/07 by David L. Barack · 1 voice · 1 citation
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Neuroscience · #Cognitive Science and Education Research #Fractal and DNA sequence analysis #Neural dynamics and brain function

paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/tops.12699

openalex publication_date 2023/10/07 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

The dynamical hypothesis states that cognitive systems are dynamical systems. While dynamical systems play an important role in many cognitive phenomena, the dynamical hypothesis as stated applies to every system and so fails both to specify what makes cognitive systems distinct and to distinguish between proposals regarding the nature of cognitive systems. To avoid this problem, I distinguish several different types of dynamical systems, outlining four dimensions along which dynamical systems can vary: total-state versus partial-state, internal versus external, macroscopic versus microscopic, and systemic versus componential, and illustrate these with examples. I conclude with two illustrations of partial-state, internal, microscopic, componential dynamicism.

Citations

• What Might Cognition Be, If Not Computation?
• ImageNet classification with deep convolutional neural networks
• Computation Through Neural Population Dynamics

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Discussions

• Another paper for our special issue on dynamics! 🎊🎊🎊 @DLBarack distinguishes several different types of dynamical systems, their dimensions, and the ways they are applied in different explanations [bsky, 4 points, 2 comments]

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