ABSTRACT – The basic reciprocity between individual parts and collective organization constitutes a key scientific question spanning the biological and social sciences. Such reciprocity is accompanied by the absence of direct linkages between levels of description giving rise to what is often referred to as the aggregation or nonequivalence problem between levels of analysis. This issue is encountered both in...

SCIENCE – 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 upon the instrument used to measure it. Although waves and particles seem to be totally different and apparently mutually exclusive descriptions of the quantum behavior, they are not...

In a recent scientific journal article entitled ‘Virtual Partner Interaction (VPI): Exploring Novel Behaviors via Coordination Dynamics’, brain scientists Kelso, de Guzman, Reveley and Tognoli have introduced ‘Virtual Partner Interaction (VPI)’: “a coupled dynamical system for studying real time interaction between a human and a machine. In this proof of concept study, human subjects coordinate...

ABSTRACT – Niels Bohr’s maxim contraria sunt complementa (contraries are complementary) indicated his strong suspicion that the complementarity interpretation of quantum mechanics might someday be expanded into a generalized principle. It now appears that such a principle has been found in metastability which appears at the scale of living things. Metastability has been proposed as a principle of brain~behavior, and...

J. A. SCOTT KELSO – “This talk traced, in a somewhat personal and informal fashion, the origins of Coordination Dynamics and its evolution as a scientific approach to the deep problem of coordination in complex, living things. From rather humble beginnings, Coordination Dynamics has taken some unexpected turns and now figures quite prominently in a number of fields, both basic and applied. Some new directions were...

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 field of coordination dynamics itself is an example of the “CD of CP” strategy. Here is an excerpt from the introduction, giving you the basic idea of the study: “However, the nature of the coordination between the rider and the...

STACEY SINGER – Palm Beach Post Staff Writer – 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 to see the living brain, to map its intricate geography and learn about its chemistry. But understanding how it actually works raises questions for Florida Atlantic University Professor J.A. Scott Kelso about...

Between Components of an Organism Bimanual coordination Interlimb coordination Within-limb multijoint coordination Between an organism and the environment Visually specified coordination patterns Patterns of auditory-motor coordination Between organisms themselves Visual coupling between people CD of horse~rider Interactional synchrony? Mother~infant...

J. A. SCOTT KELSO – “The coordination of living things is one of the great mysteries in the science of life. Coordination is in us and all around us. It is everywhere we look, from the coordination among the genes that make us who we are and what we become, to the remarkable coordination among the nerve cells of the brain that allows us to perceive the world, to learn and to remember, to decide and to act. And...

Among other ways of saying it, the complementary nature is about grounding yin~yang relationships in a new principle of how the human brain works. For example, on the one hand people think the brain works as an integrated organ where information from different parts of the brain is integrated to form a representation of an object or a plan of action. On the other hand, people think of the brain as a group of segregated...