Abstract
Aiming to identify general principles governing collective behavior at multiple levels, we visit complex systems whose dynamic patterns traverse neural, behavioral, and social levels. Rather than approaching such systems from their distinct scientific perspectives, e.g., neuroscience, psychology, or sociology, we unite them in the study of their coordination dynamics. A study of multiple people coordinating their behavior, dubbed “the human fireflies experiment,” reveals spatiotemporal metastability. Another study of real fireflies, often taken as the poster child for strong synchronization, also reveals a telltale spatiotemporal mixture of integration and segregation, as had an earlier investigation into the coordination of neural ensembles. Empirical data is contextualized with a theoretical model of coordination dynamics and confirms its prediction that weak coupling and broken symmetry play key roles. We conclude that nature, in all its diversity and uninterested in subsuming itself to the simpler organizing phenomena favored by scientists, such as synchronization, in fact revels in spatiotemporal metastability.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Kelso, J.A.S., Haken, H.: New laws to be expected in the organism. Synergetics of brain and behavior. In: Murphy, M., O’Neill, L. (eds.) What Is Life, pp. 137–160. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1995)
Perez Velazquez, J.L.: Finding simplicity in complexity: general principles of biological and nonbiological organization. J. Biol. Phys. 35, 209–221 (2009)
Anderson, P.W.: More is different. Science. 177, 393–396 (1972)
Von Bertalanffy, L.: An outline of general system theory. Br. J. Philos. Sci. 1, 134–165 (1950)
Atlan, H.: Entre le cristal et la fumée: Essai sur l'Organisation du Vivant. Éditions du Seuil, Paris (1979)
Yates, F.E.: Order and complexity in dynamical systems: homeodynamics as a generalized mechanics for biology. Math. Comput. Model. 19, 49–74 (1994)
Campbell, D.T.: Downward causation in hierarchically organised biological systems. In: Ayala, F.J., Dobzhansky, T. (eds.) Studies in the Philosophy of Biology, pp. 179–186. Macmillan Education, London (1974)
Pattee, H.H.: Complementarity vs. reduction as explanation of biological complexity. Am. J. Physiol.-Reg. I. 236, R241–R246 (1979)
Kelso, J.A.S.: Dynamic Patterns: the Self-Organization of Brain and Behavior. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA (1995)
Ellis, G.F.: On the nature of causation in complex systems. Trans. Roy. Soc. S. Afr. 63, 69–84 (2008)
Kelso, J.A.S., Dumas, G., Tognoli, E.: Outline of a general theory of behavior and brain coordination. Neural Netw. 37, 120–131 (2013)
Kozlowski, S.W., Chao, G.T., Grand, J.A., Braun, M.T., Kuljanin, G.: Advancing multilevel research design: capturing the dynamics of emergence. Organ. Res. Methods. 16, 581–615 (2013)
Holland, J.H.: Adaptation in Natural and Artificial Systems: an Introductory Analysis with Applications to Biology, Control, and Artificial Intelligence. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA (1992)
Kauffman, S.A.: The Origins of Order: Self-Organization and Selection in Evolution. Oxford University Press, New York (1993)
Freeman, W.J., Kozma, R., Werbos, P.J.: Biocomplexity: adaptive behavior in complex stochastic dynamical systems. Biosystems. 59, 109–123 (2001)
Bressler, S.L., Tognoli, E.: Operational principles of neurocognitive networks. Int. J. Psychophysiol. 60, 139–148 (2006)
Tognoli, E., Kelso, J.A.S.: Enlarging the scope: grasping brain complexity. Front. Syst. Neurosci. 8, 122 (2014)
Rabinovich, M.I., Simmons, A.N., Varona, P.: Dynamical bridge between brain and mind. Trends Cogn. Sci. 19, 453–461 (2015)
Russo, E., Treves, A.: Cortical free-association dynamics: distinct phases of a latching network. Phys. Rev. E. 85, 051920 (2012)
Tsuda, I.: Chaotic itinerancy and its roles in cognitive neurodynamics. Curr. Opin. Neurobiol. 31, 67–71 (2015)
Tognoli, E., de Guzman, G.C., Kelso, J.A.S.: Interacting humans and the dynamics of their social brains. In: Wang, R., Gu, F. (eds.) Advances in Cognitive Neurodynamics (II), pp. 139–143. Springer, Dordrecht (2011)
Dumas, G., de Guzman, G.C., Tognoli, E., Kelso, J.A.S.: The human dynamic clamp as a paradigm for social interaction. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 111, E3726–E3734 (2014)
Bassett, D.S., Gazzaniga, M.S.: Understanding complexity in the human brain. Trends Cogn. Sci. 15, 200–209 (2011)
Bar-Yam, Y.: Multiscale complexity/entropy. Adv. Complex Syst. 7, 47–63 (2004)
Tognoli, E., Kelso, J.A.S.: On the brain’s dynamical complexity: coupling and causal influences across spatiotemporal scales. In: Yamaguchi, Y. (ed.) Advances in Cognitive Neurodynamics (III), pp. 259–265. Springer, Dordrecht (2013)
Devor, A., Bandettini, P.A., Boas, D.A., Bower, J.M., Buxton, R.B., Cohen, L.B., Dale, A.M., Einevoll, G.T., Fox, P.T., Franceschini, M.A., Friston, K.J.: The challenge of connecting the dots in the BRAIN. Neuron. 80, 270–274 (2013)
Kelso, J.A.S., Schöner, G., Scholz, J.P., Haken, H.: Phase locked modes, phase transitions and component oscillators in coordinated biological motion. Phys. Scr. 35, 79–87 (1987)
Koch, C., Laurent, G.: Complexity and the nervous system. Science. 284, 96–98 (1999)
Sporns, O.: Network analysis, complexity, and brain function. Complexity. 8, 56–60 (2002)
Tognoli, E., Kelso, J.A.S.: The metastable brain. Neuron. 81, 35–48 (2014)
Haken, H.: Principles of Brain Functioning: a Synergetic Approach to Brain Activity, Behavior and Cognition, vol. 67. Springer, Berlin (2013)
Kelso, J.A.S.: Coordination dynamics. In: Meyers, R.A. (ed.) Encyclopedia of Complexity and System Science, pp. 1537–1564. Springer, Heidelberg (2009)
Kelso, J.A.S.: Multistability and metastability: understanding dynamic coordination in the brain. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. B. 367, 906–918 (2012)
Bressler, S.L., Kelso, J.A.S.: Cortical coordination dynamics and cognition. Trends Cogn. Sci. 5, 26–36 (2001)
Kelso, J.A.S., Tognoli, E.: Toward a complementary neuroscience: metastable coordination dynamics of the brain. In: Perlovsky, L.I., Kozma, R. (eds.) Neurodynamics of Cognition and Consciousness, pp. 39–59. Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg (2007)
Tognoli, E., Kelso, J.A.S.: Brain coordination dynamics: true and false faces of phase synchrony and metastability. Prog. Neurobiol. 87, 31–40 (2009)
Smith, H.M.: Synchronous flashing of fireflies. Science. 82, 151–152 (1935)
Buck, J., Buck, E.: Mechanism of rhythmic synchronous flashing of fireflies. Science. 159, 1319–1327 (1968)
Ermentrout, B.: An adaptive model for synchrony in the firefly pteroptyx malaccae. J. Math. Biol. 29, 571–585 (1991)
Zhang, M., Kelso, J.A.S., Tognoli, E.: Critical diversity: divided or united states of social coordination. PLoS One. (2018) https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0193843
Kelso, J.A.S., de Guzman, G.C., Holroyd, T.: The self organized phase attractive dynamics of coordination. In: Babloyantz, A. (ed.) Self Organization, Emerging Properties and Learning, Series B, vol. 260, pp. 41–62. Plenum, New York (1991)
Kelso, J.A.S.: Coordination dynamics of human brain and behavior. Springer Proc. Phys. 69, 223–234 (1992)
Tognoli, E., Lagarde, J., de Guzman, G.C., Kelso, J.A.S.: The phi complex as a neuromarker of human social coordination. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 104, 8190–8195 (2007)
Kelso, J.A.S., de Guzman, G.C., Reveley, C., Tognoli, E.: Virtual partner interaction (VPI): exploring novel behaviors via coordination dynamics. PLoS One. 4, e5749 (2009)
Tognoli, E., Kelso, J.A.S.: Spectral dissociation of lateralized pairs of brain rhythms. arXiv preprint (2013) arXiv:1310.7662
Bhowmik, D., Shanahan, M.: Metastability and inter-band frequency modulation in networks of oscillating spiking neuron populations. PLoS One. 8, e62234 (2013)
Kelso, J.A.S., Del Colle, J.D., Schöner, G.: Action-perception as a pattern formation process. In: Jeannerod, M. (ed.) Attention and Performance 13: Motor Representation and Control, pp. 139–169. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc, Hillsdale (1990)
Bressler, S.L., Kelso, J.A.S.: Coordination dynamics in cognitive neuroscience. Front. Neurosci. 10, 397 (2016)
Nordham, C.A., Tognoli, E., Fuchs, A., Kelso, J.S.: How interpersonal coordination affects individual behavior (and vice versa): experimental analysis and adaptive HKB model of social memory. Ecological Psychology, (just-accepted) (2018) https://doi.org/10.1080/10407413.2018.1438196
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by NIMH Grant MH080838.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this paper
Cite this paper
Tognoli, E., Zhang, M., Kelso, J.A.S. (2018). On the Nature of Coordination in Nature. In: Delgado-García, J., Pan, X., Sánchez-Campusano, R., Wang, R. (eds) Advances in Cognitive Neurodynamics (VI). Advances in Cognitive Neurodynamics. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8854-4_48
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8854-4_48
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-10-8853-7
Online ISBN: 978-981-10-8854-4
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)