D. A. Engstrøm, Ph.D.
“ending to beginning, beginning into end, yin into the yang, yang into the yin,
in into the out, out into the in, sometimes I get so dizzy I cannot stand the spin,
I’ve got to leave the circle, leave the circle behind…”
-excerpt from Song for Zeno, 1999
Biography
David A. Engstrøm received his B. Sci. in Pharmacology from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1985 and graduated with the Ph.D. degree in neuropharmacology from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, department of pharmacology in 1991.
During 1991-1993, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow for J. A. Scott Kelso at the Center for Complex Systems and Brain Sciences (CCSBS) at the Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida, on behavioral transitions between reactive and anticipatory modes of human motor behavior.
From 1993-1995, Engstrøm travelled extensively in Europe, working as a troubadour and on the way, attempted to consolidate his lifetime of education and art into a useful, meaningful world view.
From 1995-1996, he returned to work for Kelso aCCSBS, this time with aim in developing conceptual links between coordination dynamics and complementary pairs. In 1996-2001, Engstrøm returned to Europe and his ‘other life’ as travelling musician.
In 2001, he began co-writing “The Complementary Nature” (TCN) with Kelso, which was published by
The Complementary Nature
Engstrøm, along with co-author J. A. Scott Kelso has recently written The Complementary Nature to summarize their research plan.
In this book, Kelso and Engstrøm contend that ubiquitous contraries are complementary and propose a comprehensive, empirically-based scientific theory of how the polarized world and the world in between can be reconciled.
They nominate the tilde, or squiggle (~), as the symbolic punctuation for reconciled complementary pairs. The book reconciles the philosophy of complementary pairs with the science of coordination dynamics.
As mentioned above, experiments and theory show that the human brain is capable of displaying two apparently contradictory, mutually exclusive behaviors–integration and segregation–at the same time.
Coordination dynamics – a mathematically expressed theory that reconciles the scientific language of states with the novel dynamical language of tendencies – attests to the complementary nature inherent in human brains and behavior.
It may explain, Kelso and Engstrøm argue, why we (and nature) appear to partition things, events, and ideas into pairs.
This account is not just metaphorical; the reconciliations they describe are grounded in the principles and mathematical language of the theory of coordination dynamics.
The Complementary Nature provides a clear-cut methodology for this evolving theory of brain and behavior that can also be applied to areas and developments outside the neurosciences, hence aiding reconciliations within and between disparate fields.
Publications
Engstrøm, D.A. and Kelso, J.A.S., The Coordination Dynamics of The Complementary Nature, Gestalt Theory 30 (2008) 121-134
Kelso, J.A.S and Engstrøm, D.A. The Complementary Nature, (2006) MIT Press.
Engstrøm, D.A., Holroyd, T. and Kelso, J.A.S. Reaction-anticipation transitions in human motor behavior, Human Movement Science 15 (1996) 809-832
Engstrøm, D.A and Kelso, J.A.S., Dynamic transitions between reactive and anticipatory perception-action behavior, Workshop for nonlinear dynamics and brain, Florida Atlantic University (1992)
Engstrøm, D.A., Bickford-Wimer, P., de la Garza, R. and Rose, G.M., Age related-increases in responsiveness of rat hippocampal pyramidal neurons to locally applied nicotine correlate with diminished learning ability, Neurobio Aging (1992)
Rose, G.M. and Engstrøm, D.A., Differential effect of aging on hippocampal pyramidal cell responsiveness to muscimol & nicotine, The treatment of dementias: a new generation of progress, J.W. Simpkins, F.T. Crew and E.M. Meyer (Eds.),(1992) Plenum press, New York.
Rose, G.M. and Engstrøm, D.A., Hippocampal nicotinic-cholinergic supersensitivity in aged learning-impaired rats, IBRO Congress of Neurosci Abstr.(1991).
Engstrøm, D.A., Cholinergic modulation of hippocampal function, UPI (1991)
Engstrøm, D.A. and Rose, G.M., The effect of locally applied drugs on hippocampal primed burst potentiation, Neurosci Abstr 17 (1991) 387
Engstrøm, D.A. and Rose, G.M., Nicotine differentially affects the spontaneous firing of hippocampal pyramidal cells and interneurons, Neurosci Abstr 16 (1990) 207
Engstrøm, D.A., Bennett, M.C., Stevens, K.E., Wilson, R.L., Diamond, D.M., Fleshner, M.and Rose, G.M., Modulation of hippocampal primed burst potentiation by anesthesia, Brain Res (1990) 521
Diamond, D.M., Bennett, M.C., Engstrøm, Fleshner, M. and Rose, G.M., Adrenalectomy reduces the threshold for primed burst potentiation, Brain Res 492 (1989) 356-360
Engstrøm, D.A. and Rose, G.M., Infuence of cholinergic neurotransmission on hippocampal synaptic plasticity, Neurosci Abstr 15 (1988) 85
Engstrøm, D.A., Allan, A. and Harris, R.A. The effects of avermectin B1a on muscimol-stimulated 35Cl- flux, Neurosci Abstr 12 (1986) 669
2 Responses to “D. A. Engstrøm, Ph.D.”
Comments
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
Discover Your Squiggle Sense Today!
[...] Engstrøm, D.A and Kelso, J.A.S., Dynamic transitions between reactive and anticipatory perception-action behavior, Workshop for nonlinear dynamics and brain, Florida Atlantic University (1992). Engstrøm, D. A., Bickford-Wimer, P., …Original post by somebody [...]
I just finished reading The Complementary Nature, and was happy to discover that it complemented my own work rather nicely. So thank you muchly for offering your ideas to the world!