DYNAMIC FIELD THEORY

Dynamic field theory provides an explanation for how the brain gives rise to behavior via the coordinated activity of populations of neurons. These neural populations, depicted in the dynamic field simulator below, make local decisions about behaviorally relevant events in the world. For instance, move your mouse above the blue line in the simulator and watch what happens. When you move your mouse high enough, the group of neurons form a local decision-a peak of activation-detecting the location of the interesting event (your mouse movement). When you move to another position along the line, a different local decision forms. Activation patterns in other dynamic fields might be sensitive to other types of information such as color, shape, or even the emotional valence of an event.