Ori Ossmy: “Processes and Experiences Underlying the Development of Physical Cognition”

Talare: Prof. Ori Ossmy, PhD
Professor in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, Birkbeck College, University of London, UK

Titel: “Processes and Experiences Underlying the Development of Physical Cognition”

Abstract: Physical cognition involves solving problems that are ubiquitous across species, ages and cultures—how to navigate a cluttered environment, use a tool, and so on. As our bodies, skills, and environments change, new problems emerge and require new means to solve them. With learning and development, children respond more adaptively and efficiently to environmental challenges and opportunities. Traditionally, developmental research focuses on macro changes in problem solving skills by identifying the ages at which children solve particular problems and characterizing differences among children at different points in learning or development. This outcome-oriented approach established that physical cognition begins in infancy and improves with age and experience but is limited in informing about how and why change occurs. In contrast, my ground hypothesis is that macro changes in physical cognition emerge from micro, real-time experiences. These real-time experiences, in turn, play out in an interactive system of perceptual, neural, cognitive, and motor processes. The efficiency of these processes and their interactions differ widely among individuals. From cruising infants to football-playing robots, I test this hypothesis by adopting an innovative integrative approach that combines interdisciplinary perspectives (child development, cognitive neuroscience, motor control, computer science), methods (eye-tracking, EEG, motion tracking, robotics, computer vision, virtual reality, and video), ages (infants, children, adults, older adults), and tasks (manual and locomotor).