This statement evokes a plethora of associations. Key phrases such as adaptation, learning and decision making come to one’s mind. But what precisely is meant by “Intelligent Information Processing”? And can we actually provide a perspective, which can be operationally formalized, such that it transcends jargon and becomes useful in applied fields as Cognitive Neurosciences, Coordination Dynamics or even Clinical Neurosciences?

The endeavor of our Theoretical Neuroscience Group (TNG) is to develop such a perspective based on ideas of nonlinear dynamical systems, neural network and self-organization theories. We view intelligent information processing as a low-dimensional stochastic process arising from a high-dimensional network dynamics. The low-dimensional dynamics characterizes the lawful behavior of a cognitive or behavioral process and can be visualized as a surface (or equivalently: manifold) in a high-dimensional space. The topology of the flow on the manifold identifies task-specific behaviors and the function of the process. Learning can be viewed as the generating process of the low-dimensional manifold and adaptation is its change. The brain with its complex connectivity provides the ideal framework in which functionally meaningful manifolds can emerge. Clinical research teaches us that lesions of individual brain areas often do not affect the performance of the brain; however, lesioned pathways connecting distant areas impair communication and can result in dramatic loss of brain function including memory loss, neglect, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and multiple sclerosis. Evidently the brain’s ”wiring” and the well-timed communication between brain regions are relevant ingredients for the proper functioning of a healthy brain.

In TNG, we mathematically and computationally study the mechanisms which give rise to the emergence of low-dimensional manifolds in brain networks with complex connectivity. We test the “reality” of our concepts and theories by performing human behavioral experiments, as well as brain imaging experiments using non-invasive technologies such as electroencephalography (EEG), magnetoencephalography (MEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). In the applied domain of cognitive and motor function, we systematically develop manifolds to describe the lawful characteristics of human behavior.

Our Theoretical Neuroscience Group is composed of Florida Atlantic University (FAU) researchers at the Center for Complex Systems & Brain Sciences and the Physics Department, Boca Raton (USA) and we work in close collaboration with researchers at the Movement & Perception Laboratory UMR6152 at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Marseille (France). We offer training in Theoretical Neurosciences and Human Movement Sciences through the PhD programs in Complex Systems & Brain Sciences (FAU), the Physics Department at FAU and the Movement & Perception Laboratory at CNRS.