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The “Statistical Physics of Cognition” workshop aims to bring together a diverse group of experts, including theoreticians, experimentalists, mathematical modellers, and data analysts, to explore statistical physics-based approaches to understanding the brain.

Assuming cognition is an emergent macro property of the intricate collective dynamics of networks of neurons, tools from Statistical Physics are ideally placed to address how it emerges. Statistical physics has developed methods for more than a hundred years to describe the emergence of macroscopic properties in physical systems. It is therefore natural to combine experiments on neuronal firing with statistical physics analysis to address cognition as a composite macro phenomenon.

This two-day workshop will focus on the collective dynamics of neurons and how cognition, or even the mind and consciousness may emerge. Collections of firing neurones have been observed to form avalanches of activity propagating through the brain following statistics suggesting that critical dynamics is relevant. Analysing neuronal activity by use of 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 fireside chat between prominent scientists on the topic “Can reductionism explain the mind?” This event aims to push the boundaries of scientific and public understanding of how the brain works and the tools needed for a holistic understanding

Organised by the IOP Nonlinear and Complex Physics Group

This meeting is made possible through the funding we have received under the Physics of Life programme of the EPSRC and the Institute of Physics.