General Physics Colloquium, Professor Anastasia Bizyaeva, Cornell University

Title:  From Spins to Bifurcations:  Nonlinear Dynamics of Spatial Decision-Making

Host:  Jennet Dickinson

Abstract:  Animals continuously make decisions as they move through space while integrating sensory cues. Statistical physics models have recently provided powerful insights into this decision-making process, capturing abrupt behavioral switches observed in experiments as phase transitions. In this talk, we will show how such spatially extended decision dynamics connect to broader classes of cognitive decision-making models, including models of opinion dynamics and cognitive circuits. By linking these frameworks through the lens of dynamical systems, we illustrate how phase transitions in space correspond to bifurcations in reduced neural space, pointing to a unified dynamic mechanism underlying fast, flexible decision-making across scales.