Activity &

reactivity

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Reactivity Activity

1.Stimulus

2.Reaction

2.Result

1.Action

1

In the framework of reactivityparadigm individual's behaviorindividual's behaviorisis aa reaction to stimulus reaction to stimulus. Thisreaction is based on thepropagation of excitationpropagation of excitationalong the reflex arcalong the reflex arc: fromreceptors through centralstructures to effector organs.

1

2

Reactivity

1

1.Stimulus

2.Reaction

In the framework of activityactivity paradigmindividual's behavior isindividual's behavior is a a goalgoal--directed actiondirected action. . The principaldeterminant of a behavior is an eventwhich is not in the past with respectto behaviour, that is, a stimulus, butwhich occurs in the future, a a resultresult,which is understood as a desiredrelation between an organism andenvironment.

1

2

Reactivity Activity

1.Stimulus

2.Reaction

2.Result

1.Action

1

1.Stimulus

2.Reaction

??

“Mechanical” determination - Reactivity

“Teleological” determination - Activity

M. Bunge

Time ParadoxTime Paradox

Anticipatory Systems:Reinvention

Robert Rosen [http://www.anticipation.info/]• Without exception (in my experience), all models and theories of biological systems are reactive

• An anticipatory system is a system whose current state is determined by a future state. “The cause lies in the future”

• An anticipatory system is a system containing a predictive model of itself and/or of its environment that allows it to change state at an instant in accord with the model’s predictions pertaining to a later instant

• The “reactive paradigm”, as we may call it, was grossly deficient in dealing with systems of this kind

• Any system behavior can be simulated by a purely reactive system. We can only speak of simulation, and not of explanation, of our system’s behavior in these terms

• The reason that the Copernican scheme was considered superior to the Ptolemaic lies not in the existence of trajectories which cannot be represented by the epicycles, but arises entirely from considerations of parsimony, as embodied for instance in Occam’s Razor

DYNAMIC PREDICTIONS:OSCILLATIONS AND SYNCHRONY IN

TOP–DOWN PROCESSING

A. K. Engel, P. Fries, W. Singer

NATURE REVIEWS NEUROSCIENCE, 2001, V.2. Many aspects of cognition

and behaviour are not not stimulus driven in a stimulus driven in a reflex-like mannerreflex-like manner, but but are to a large degree based on based on expectationsexpectations. This anticipatory nature of anticipatory nature of neural activityneural activity patterns is attracting increasing interest in systems systems neuroscienceneuroscience.

Cartesian paradigmCartesian paradigm “nobody espouses but

almost everybody tends to think in terms of”

[D. Dennett 1993, pg. 144]

EclectismEclectism

“Phylogenetic” eclecticism“Ontogenetic” eclecticism “Level” eclecticism“Anatomical” eclecticism

• eclecticism [from Gr. eklektikos=to choose], the selection of elements from different systems of thought, without regard to possible contradictions between the systems

“Phylogenetic” and “Ontogenetic” eclecticism

Unlike primitive organisms, humans are active, rather than reactive, beings.E. Goldberg. The executive brain. Frontal lobes and the civilized mind. Oxfrod Univ.

Press. 2001, p.124

Through evolution and during the course of ontogeny, there is transition from reflexive, involuntary behaviors to voluntary and purposeful behaviors…

Carolyn A Ristau. In: Evolution of social behavior and integrative levels, 1988.

EclectismEclectism

“Phylogenetic” eclecticism“Ontogenetic” eclecticism “Level” eclecticism“Anatomical” eclecticism

• eclecticism [from Gr. eklektikos=to choose], the selection of elements from different systems of thought, without regard to possible contradictions between the systems