Wright and Bourke's compelling article rightly points out that existing models of embryogenesis fail to explain the mechanisms and functional significance of the dynamic connections among neurons. We pursue their account of Dynamic Logic by appealing to the Markov blanket formalism that underwrites the Free Energy Principle. We submit that this allows one to model embryogenesis as self-organisation

The excellent commentaries to our target paper hint upon three main issues, (i) spatiotemporal neuroscience; (ii) neuro-mental relationship; and (iii) mind, brain, and world relationship. (i) We therefore discuss briefly the history of Spatiotemporal Neuroscience. Distinguishing it from Cognitive Neuroscience and related branches (like Affective, Social, etc. Neuroscience), Spatiotemporal Neuroscience

We describe a physical approach to biological functions, with the emphasis on the motor and sensory functions. The approach assumes the existence of biology-specific laws of nature uniting salient physical variables and parameters. In contrast to movements in inanimate nature, actions are produced by changes in parameters of the corresponding laws of nature. For movements, parameters are associated

The assumption that during cortical embryogenesis neurons and synaptic connections are selected to form an ensemble maximising synchronous oscillation explains mesoscopic cortical development, and a mechanism for cortical information processing is implied by consistency with the Free Energy Principle and Dynamic Logic.A heteroclinic network emerges, with stable and unstable fixed points of oscillation

What is social pressure, and how could it be adaptive to conform to others' expectations? Existing accounts highlight the importance of reputation and social sanctions. Yet, conformist behavior is multiply determined: sometimes, a person desires social regard, but at other times she feels obligated to behave a certain way, regardless of any reputational benefit-i.e. she feels a sense of should. We

It has been experimentally demonstrated that, under alkaline conditions, silica is able to induce the formation of mineral self-assembled inorganic-inorganic composite materials similar in morphology, texture and nanostructure to the hybrid biomineral structures that, millions of years later, life was able to self-organize. These mineral self-organized structures (MISOS) have been also shown to work

Emerging trends in neurosciences are providing converging evidence that cortical networks in predominantly motor areas are activated in several contexts related to 'action' that do not cause any overt movement. Indeed for any complex body, human or embodied robot inhabiting unstructured environments, the dual processes of shaping motor output during action execution and providing the self with information

In recent years, both fields of physics and psychology have made important scientific advances. The emergence of new instruments gave rise to a data-driven neuroscience allowing us to learn about the state of the brain supporting known mental functions and conversely. In parallel, the appearance of new mathematics allowed the development of computational models describing fundamental brain functions

Physarum polycephalum, a single-celled, multinucleate slime mould, is a seemingly simple organism, yet it exhibits quasi-intelligent behaviour during extension, foraging, and as it adapts to dynamic environments. For these reasons, Physarum is an attractive target for modelling with the underlying goal to uncover the physiological mechanisms behind the exhibited quasi-intelligence and/or to devise

We look at a recent expansion of Physarum research from inspiring biomimetic algorithms to serving as a model organism in the evolutionary study of perception, memory, learning, and decision making.

Complexity is an indisputable, well-known, and broadly accepted feature of the brain. Despite the apparently obvious and widely-spread consensus on the brain complexity, sprouts of the single neuron revolution emerged in neuroscience in the 1970s. They brought many unexpected discoveries, including grandmother or concept cells and sparse coding of information in the brain. In machine learning for a

The paper introduces a new perspective on abstract concepts (e.g. "freedom") and their associate words representation, the Words As social Tools (WAT) view. Traditional theories conceptualize language as a way to index referents, a shortcut to access meaning, or a way to access meaning through words associations. WAT goes beyond these theories by identifying additional functions of words and language:

Directional hemispheric dominance has been established for numerous cognitive functions in the human brain. Strong population biases with some functions favoring the left and others the right hemisphere generated the popular idea of an advantageous prototypical division of labor between both halves of the brain, molded by evolution and genetically blueprinted. As most empirical studies on functional

Humans are fundamentally defined by our socially transmitted, often long-lived, sophisticated cultural traits. The nature of cultural transmission is the subject of ongoing debate: while some emphasize that it is a biased, transformational process, others point out that high-fidelity transmission is required to explain the quintessentially cumulative nature of human culture. This paper integrates both