FOR 868:  Computational Modelling of Behavioural, Cognitive and Neural Dynamics

• Subject Area: Social and Behavioural Sciences ; Humanities
• Term: from 2007 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 34181293

The principal objective of the Research Unit is the development of theoretical, computational and data-analytic approaches for the interface between experimental psychology and the neurosciences in a cooperation involving scientists from cognitive, biological and mathematical psychology, theoretical physics (nonlinear dynamics) and applied mathematics. The Research Unit focuses on mathematical and computational modelling of fundamental behavioural, cognitive and neural processes. These processes comprise perception, attention, action preparation, oculomotor and postural control in areas such as reading, word recognition and balancing as well as, in perspective, associated disorders. The experimental paradigms are intimately related to or even implied by computational models derived from a nonlinear sciences framework (e.g., synchronisation, time-delayed feedback, stochastic processes, complex networks) and are characterised by high-resolution time-series measurements (e.g., eye movements, brain activity and postural control).
(1) Further development of a computational model of saccade generation during reading, especially modulation by reading strategies and individual differences, and development of methods for the analysis of complex models and for model comparison.
(2) Simultaneous recording of event-related brain potentials and eye movements during natural reading. The goal is to determine precisely the temporal relations between word recognition and saccade programming.
(3) Analysis and modelling of brain potentials relevant for word recognition with nonlinear dynamical tools from the perspective of hierarchical complex networks. The development of biophysical network models will inform about the causal connectivity of brain regions involved in word recognition.
(4) Analysis and modelling of fixational movements of the eyes and of postural sway to research motor adjustments in response to sensory changes. Using the interaction between the two motor systems as a testbed, the goal is to examine and mathematically model neural control via time-delayed feedback.
(5) On the basis of a model of nonlinear oscillators, neural and behavioural data are used to gain insights into the neural dynamics of rhythmic activity, oscillator interaction as well as oscillator coordination (e.g., synchronisation).

• DFG Programme: Research Units

Projects

• Characterization of complex interdependencies of oscillatory processes from data with extended phase dynamics methods (Applicant Pikovsky, Arkady )
• Constraints on antecedent integration in sentence comprehension - Event-related potentials and eye movements (Applicant Vasishth, Shravan )
• Control of fixational eye movements and posture (Applicant Engbert, Ralf )
• Dynamic modeling of eye-movement control in reading (Applicant Kliegl, Ph.D., Reinhold )
• Dynamical complex network approaches for the analysis and modeling of large scale brain activities during cognitive processes (Applicant Kurths, Jürgen )
• General Program - Zentralprojekt - (Applicant Engbert, Ralf )
• Search for cardiac and respiratory influence on time perception and rhythm reproduction (Applicant Pollatos, Olga )
• The timeline of word recognition and oculomotor control in reading (Applicant Sommer, Werner )

• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Ralf Engbert
• Deputy: Professor Reinhold Kliegl, Ph.D.