A=A

by Ernst Pöppel The most important equation for me is the ’sentence of identity’, A=A. One might say that this is not even an equation. Obviously A=A. For a neuroscientist, however, the concept of identity cannot be taken for granted. How is it possible that I see a face now and that I see the same face a few seconds later, and it is still the same face?...

“At a more microscopic level, this metastable mechanism for binding and its breakdown is realized biophysically by coupling neural populations, themselves composed of groups of Hodgkin-Huxley, conductance-based neurons. More generally, coexisting tendencies for functional integration and segregation on all levels attest to the brain’s inherently complementary nature. (Kelso & Engstrøm, 2006)” — J. A. Scott Kelso

From Quantum Mechanics to The Complementary Nature

Scientifically speaking, nature is grounded in the laws of quantum mechanics. In quantum mechanics, a strange situation arises: atoms and photons can behave as either waves or particles, and which behavior is observed depends...

Just say “Mtsbwy!”

Mtsbwy! or May the squiggle be with you! This is what we call the squiggle greeting: It means that you wish for the person you greet with it to awaken, be mindful of, or simply appreciate their squiggle sense, that is, their...

The Squiggle Sense of The Glass Bead Game

“As long as Knecht permitted the flow of inner images to come without direction, as they do, like dreams, in the initial stage of relaxation, there were two principal scenes which emerged from the stream and lingered, two...

Coordination Dynamics of the Horse~Rider System

by J. Lagarde, J. A. S.Kelso, C. Peham and T. Licka pdf TSS: Here is one of the first scientific journal articles to use a squiggle (horse~rider) in its title. Using coordination dynamics to understand a complementary pair outside...

The Squiggles of Neuroscience

action potential~graded potential afferent~efferent agonist~antagonist axon~dendrite brain~mind brain~neuron central~peripheral chemical~electrical dorsal stream~ventral stream excitation~inhibition glia~neuron hearing~sound left~right light~vision Na+~K+ potentiation~depression presynaptic~postsynaptic sensation~perception sensory~motor serial~parallel smell~taste spike~threshold subthreshold~superthreshold Want...

The Squiggle Sense of The Modern~Ancient

The squiggle sense of modern~ancient The modern itself, The ancient itself, Either the modern or the ancient, Both the modern and the ancient, The modern changing to the ancient, The ancient changing to the modern, Between the...

Review of Kelso’s Dynamic Patterns

J. A. Scott Kelso. Dynamic Patterns: the self-organization of brain and behavior. MIT Press. 1995 Review This marvellous book describes a wealth of biological features in terms of the structure of the underlying dynamical space,...

The Coordination Dynamics Law – An Equation of Life?

“In coordination dynamics, where apartness and togetherness coexist as a complementary pair—where a whole is a part and a part is a whole—there are no equilibria, no fixed points at all.” TCN — J....

Can an Electron be in Two Places at the Same Time?

Max Planck Researchers in Berlin show that for electrons from nitrogen molecules, the wave~particle character exists simultaneously Electron Cloud One way of visualising the electron is to imagine it as a cloud moving around...

FAU Professor Gets to the Heart of How the Brain Works

By Stacey Singer, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer (Original Article – June 19, 2006) pdf One hundred billion neurons, packed to the size of two fists, control what we see, do and feel. The tools of modern medicine allow scientists...

Squiggle Poetry

part of the whole, whole of the part, beginning~ending, together~apart. sentient being~becomings, progress~regress, more~less, accidentally~on purpose. metastable state~tendencies, create~annihilate functional information, enfolding~exfolding...

The Squiggle Sense of Genetics~Dynamics

The 20th century is well named as the Century of the Gene. (1) Biologists focused on establishing linkages of genotype (the genetic composition of the organism) to phenotype (what the organism looks and behaves like) and, in...

The Squiggle Sense of Charles Burchfield

“An artist finds his happiest combination in a play of complementary colors. They are direct contrasts yet do not jar; they awaken the beholder, but do not disturb him.” “The charm of the season – and the...

Toward a Complementary Neuroscience: Metastable Coordination Dynamics of the Brain

by J. A. Scott Kelso* and Emmanuelle Tognoli* ABSTRACT Metastability has been proposed as a new principle of behavioral and brain function and may point the way to a truly complementary neuroscience. From elementary coordination...

TCN Endorsements

"I have to share that this is maybe my favourite book ever! ;-)

I put off reading it because I was a bit worried about whether it would have mathematical arguments beyond my capacity, but you’ve written in such an easy and engaging way that it’s like having a conversation with you in my living-room. Thanks so much for this book - all sorts of thoughts are spinning around in my brain as a result!"

—Dr. Karen Shue

"The Complementary Nature is a genuinely fascinating, provocative, and unique book. It rises to the challenge of describing how either/or thinking obscures the in-between dynamic realities that constitute life itself and in turn how these realities rest on complementary rather than oppositional pairs.

In the process, it breaks new ground and opens fresh terrain for future research by illuminating ways in which the science of coordination dynamics—from the study of brains to the study of behavior—offers new paths for understanding the nature of human nature."

—Dr. Maxine Sheets-Johnstone, author of The Primacy of Movement

"To date, Bohr's generalized complementarity principle has been no more than an epistemological stance with little to say to the scientist expressing a normal interest in predicting natural phenomena. In their book, Kelso and Engstrøm show how the principle can advance scientific prediction and, in turn, how science—especially the science of coordination—can develop the principle. Scientists and philosophers alike will find much to ponder and debate in the pages of this book, a book that I'm sure Niels Bohr would have found deeply satisfying."

—M. T. Turvey, Trustees' Distinguished Professor, University of Connecticut, and Senior Research Scientist, Haskins Laboratories

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