Dynamic Patterns: The Self-Organization of Brain and Behavior (Complex Adaptive Systems)

465 Pages·1995·4.37 MB·English

by  J. A. Scott Kelso

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title: Dynamic Patterns : The Self-organization of Brain and
Behavior
author: Kelso, J. A. Scott.
publisher: MIT Press
isbn10 | asin: 0262611317
print isbn13: 9780262611312
ebook isbn13: 9780585326306
language: English
subject Neuropsychology, Self-organizing systems.
publication date: 1995
lcc: QP360.K454 1995eb
ddc: 612.8
subject: Neuropsychology, Self-organizing systems.
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Page iii
Dynamic Patterns
The Self-Organization of Brain and Behavior
J. A. Scott Kelso

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Page iv
Third printing, 1999
© 1995 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means
(including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the
publisher.
This book was set in Palatino by Asco Trade Typesetting Ltd., Hong Kong and was printed and bound in the
United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kelso, J. A. Scott.
Dynamic Patterns: the self-organization of brain and behavior/J. A. Scott Kelso.
p. cm.
"A Bradford book."
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-262-11200-0 (HB), 0-262-61131-7 (PB)
1. Neuropsychology. 2. Self-organizing systems. I. Title.
QP360.K454 1995
612.8dc20 94-32105
CIP

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Page v
To Betty, Kate, and Alex for their love and a little tale

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Page vii
Contents
Foreword by Hermann Haken ix
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xv
1
How Nature Handles Complexity 1
3
What Is a Pattern?
3
Kinds of Patterns
5
Principles of Dynamic Pattern Formation
15
The Messages of Self-Organized Patterns
24
New Laws to Be Expected in the Organism
24
Matters of Mind and Matter
26
The Mind Revealed? Or, What This Book's About
2
Self-Organization of Behavior: The Basic Picture 29
29
Some Historical Remarks About the Science of Psychology
37
Are Actions Self-Organized? If So, How?
41
From Synergies to Synergetics
43
Requirements of a Theory of Self-Organized Behavior
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3
Self-Organization of Behavior: First Steps of Generalization 69
69
Hubris Tempered?
70
On Harvard Horses and Russian Cats
74
Coordination between Components of an Organism
90
Coordination between Organisms
95
On Coupling
4
Extending the Basic Picture: Breaking Away 97
100
Relative Coordination
104
Relative Coordination Explained
109
Absolute and Relative Coordination Unified
110
Related Models: Fireflies, Lampreys, and Lasers
114
Instability and the Nature of Life: The Intermittency Mechanism Exposed
133
Postscript

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5
Intentional Dynamics 137
138
Goal-Directedness in Biology
144
The Second Cornerstone of Biological Self-Organization: Informational
Specificity
146
Intentional Behavioral Change
154
Related Views: Termites, Predator-Prey Cycles, and Quantum Mechanics
156
Summing Up
6
Learning Dynamics 159
160
Issues in Learning
162
The Main Concepts
164
The Seagull Effect: Competition and Cooperation
170
Questions of Learning
175
Transfer and Generalization: Symmetry Again
181
Behavioral Development
182
Evolution and Morphogenesis
184
Summary and Conclusions
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7
Perceptual Dynamics 187
188
The Barrier of Meaning: Perceptual Dynamics I
198
The Barrier of Meaning: Perceptual Dynamics II
218
Metastability of Mind
224
Principles of Perceiving: Calculating, Settling, Resonating, and Twinkling
8
Self-Organizing Dynamics of the Nervous System 227
229
Microscale Events
237
Mesoscale Events
243
Macroscale Events
253
Extending the Basic Picture . . . Again
255
Postscript on Etymology
9
Self-Organization of the Human Brain 257
257
Prolegomenon
258
Obstacles to understanding
260
The Brain Is Not a Static Machine
269
The "Brain Dynamics" Approach: Fractal Dimension
270
Spatiotemporal Patterns of the Brain
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279
Models of Brain Behavior: Coupled Modes and Sil'nikov * Chaos
283
Coda: Brain Behavior
Epilogue: Mind, Matter, and Meaning 287
Notes and References 291
Index 317

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Page ix
Foreword
The human brain is the most complex system we know of. The study of behavior may serve as a window into
understanding basic brain activities. While in contemporary neurophysiology and molecular biology, brain activity
is traced back to the actions of its individual neurons and even to its molecules such as neurotransmitters, Scott
Kelso's book promotes quite a different perspective, namely the study of the outcome of cooperative behavior of
many neurons and many other cells. This book fascinates me. I am delighted to see how beautifully it presents the
results of a combination of experiments, ingeniously devised and performed by Scott Kelso, and the application of
concepts of synergetics, an interdisciplinary field of research that I founded and developed.
Every page of the book provides us with delightful reading and opens new perspectives again and again. It also
clearly elucidates historical developments. I mention as examples the presentation of early work by A. S. F. Leyton
and C. S. Sherrington on the great variability of brain activities, or of the prophetic words by Aharon Katchalsky
and co-authors on brain activity in terms of waves, oscillation, and sudden transitions.
I am sure that this book will not only find a broad and highly interested readership, but will also become a
landmark in the field of behavioral sciences and brain research, possibly comparable to Schrödinger's famous book
What Is Life?
HERMANN HAKEN

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