Human flexible adaptation relies on both individual learning mechanisms and the (culture-)specific learning environments we grow up in. With my research I aim to illuminate the ontogenetic foundations of this adaptation process in the infant years. I will report about infants’ neural mechanisms for the acquisition of basic physical concepts (such as object categories and physical events), focusing on the theta rhythm and predictive processing, and how these early developing concepts are shaped by social and cultural learning experiences, beginning in the first year of life. I will then further illustrate the interplay between infants’ cognitive capacities, and cultural influences in the development of early prosocial behavior and cultural learning. In summary, with a dynamic developmental systems approach, I aim to convey the origins of human flexible adaptation in early infancy, laying the ground for human cultural learning and the diversity of human development.