Dynamic Coordination in the Brain: From Neurons to Mind
Christoph von der Malsburg, William A. Phillips, and Wolf Singer
Abstract
A fundamental shift is occurring in neuroscience and related disciplines. In the past, researchers focused on functional specialization of the brain, discovering complex processing strategies based on convergence and divergence in slowly adapting anatomical architectures. Yet for the brain to cope with ever-changing and unpredictable circumstances, it needs strategies with richer interactive short-term dynamics. Recent research has revealed ways in which the brain effectively coordinates widely distributed and specialized activities to meet the needs of the moment. This book explores these fin ... More
A fundamental shift is occurring in neuroscience and related disciplines. In the past, researchers focused on functional specialization of the brain, discovering complex processing strategies based on convergence and divergence in slowly adapting anatomical architectures. Yet for the brain to cope with ever-changing and unpredictable circumstances, it needs strategies with richer interactive short-term dynamics. Recent research has revealed ways in which the brain effectively coordinates widely distributed and specialized activities to meet the needs of the moment. This book explores these findings, examining the functions, mechanisms, and manifestations of distributed dynamical coordination in the brain and mind across different species and levels of organization. It identifies three basic functions of dynamic coordination: contextual disambiguation, dynamic grouping, and dynamic routing. The book considers the role of dynamic coordination in temporally structured activity and explores these issues at different levels, from synaptic and local circuit mechanisms to macroscopic system dynamics, emphasizing their importance for cognition, behavior, and psychopathology.
Keywords:
neuroscience,
functional specialization,
brain,
convergence,
divergence,
anatomical architectures,
dynamic coordination,
contextual disambiguation,
dynamic grouping,
dynamic routing
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2010 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780262014717 |
| Published to MIT Press Scholarship Online: August 2013 |
DOI:10.7551/mitpress/9780262014717.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
Christoph von der Malsburg, editor
William A. Phillips, editor
Wolf Singer, editor
More
Less
