Synergetics as a Tool for the Conceptualization and Mathematization of Cognition and Behaviour — How Far Can We Go?

Many processes of cognition are deceptively simple and effortless. We immediately can recognize a great variety of patterns. A good deal of our thinking proceeds smoothly, and many kinds of behaviour go on practically automatically. On the other hand we know that our brain is a very complex network consisting of some hundred billion of neurones. So one may ask the question: “Why do we need so many?” As a rule, evolution is economic and it would rather throw neurones away than add new ones. Thus we are led to the conclusion that the complexity of the brain is needed to cope with the complexity of the outer world and of the complex world of our body. In the course of evolution, biological systems must have started from a rather holistic reaction towards the outer world. This reaction then became more and more specialized. For instance the light-sensitive spot of a bacterium may have given the cell only a very diffuse picture. Though the visual system of a frog is rather differentiated, we know from experiments that the reactions of the frog towards the outer world are still rather holistic, and prey and predators are distinguished on global cues, such as size and direction and speed of motion of the objects. Finally, in higher animals the visual system is highly differentiated, but I think that this high degree of differentiation deceives us and makes us believe that total objects are recognized because of their decomposition into individual features. When we look at the course of evolution, we may be led to the idea that the visual system is still governed by holistic principles, and I believe, a satisfactory theory of cognition has to take care of this aspect.

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