Synergetics of Cognition

1. Front Matter

   Pages I-IX

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2. Introduction

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

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

      • H. Haken

      Pages 2-31

   3. The Self-Organization Perspective in Cognition Research: Historical Remarks and New Experimental Approaches

      • M. Stadler, P. Kruse

      Pages 32-52

3. Network Models

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 53-53

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   2. Experiments with Representation in Neural Networks: Object Motion, Speech, and Arithmetic

      • J. A. Anderson, M. L. Rossen, S. R. Viscuso, M. E. Sereno

      Pages 54-69

   3. Connectionist Generalization and Incremental Learning in Combinatorial Domains

      • O. Brousse, P. Smolensky

      Pages 70-80

4. Oscillatory Processes in the Brain

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 81-81

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   2. Synchronization of Oscillatory Responses in Visual Cortex: A Plausible Mechanism for Scene Segmentation

      • C. M. Gray, P. König, A. K. Engel, W. Singer

      Pages 82-98

   3. Stimulus-Specific Synchronization in Cat Visual Cortex and Its Possible Role in Visual Pattern Recognition

      • R. Eckhorn, H. J. Reitboeck

      Pages 99-111

   4. A Model for Feature Linking via Correlated Neural Activity

      • H. J. Reitboeck, R. Eckhorn, M. Arndt, P. Dicke

      Pages 112-125

   5. On the Problem of Anomalous Dispersion in Chaoto-Chaotic Phase Transitions of Neural Masses, and Its Significance for the Management of Perceptual Information in Brains

      • W. J. Freeman

      Pages 126-143

   6. A Hypothesis Concerning Timing in the Brain

      • E. Pöppel, E. Ruhnau, K. Schill, N. v. Steinbüchel

      Pages 144-149

   7. Prolegomenon for a Holonomic Brain Theory

      • K. H. Pribram

      Pages 150-184

5. Stability in Cognitive Systems

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 185-185

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   2. The Phenomenology of Autonomous Order Formation in Perception

      • G. Kanizsa, R. Luccio

      Pages 186-200

   3. Stability and Instability in Cognitive Systems: Multistability, Suggestion, and Psychosomatic Interaction

      • P. Kruse, M. Stadler

      Pages 201-215

6. Perception and Action

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 217-217

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   2. Concepts in Early Vision

      • B. Julesz

      Pages 218-232

   3. Visual Representations in the Brain: Inferences from Psychophysical Research

      • I. Rentschler, T. Caelli

      Pages 233-248

This book presents the invited lectures given at the International Symposium on Synergetics of Cognition held at SchloB Elmau, Bavaria (Fed. Rep. of Germany), June 4-8, 1989. The understanding of the processes underlying cognition is certainly one of the most challenging and difficult problems confronting the human mind. It is an enterprise that requires the cooperation of scientists from fields ranging from the neurosciences and psychology through biology to the computer sciences, physics and mathematics. The papers included in this volume reflect this joint effort. As will be evident, there is a remarkable convergence of ideas stemming from various fields, for instance, the earlier ideas on Gestalt theory celebrate a come­ back and remarkable analogies are being established with modem concepts of self-organization as dealt with in the interdisciplinary field of synergetics. The individual topics range from the "microscopic level", where new exciting results on specific oscillations of neural activity are reported, to computer simulations of perception, and finally psychological experiments at the "macroscopic level". We hope that this book will convey to its readers the same enthusiasm that was felt by the participants of the symposium. We wish to thank Mrs. U. Funke for the excellent organisation of the sym­ posium, and the Volkswagen-Stiftung, Hannover, for its financial support. We are furthermore grateful to Christoph Stadler and Zora Franko for their help in com­ piling the name and subject indexes. Finally we wish to thank Springer-Verlag, in particular Dr. Angela Lahee, for the excellent cooperation.

• Psychology
• Synergetics
• cognition
• control
• cortex
• mathematics
• neuroscience
• perception

• Institut für Theoretische Physik und Synergetik, Universität Stuttgart, Stuttgart 80, Fed. Rep. of Germany

  Hermann Haken

• Center for Complex Systems, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, USA

  Hermann Haken

• Fachbereich Human- und Sozialwissenschaften, Studiengang Psychologie, Universität Bremen, Bremen 33, Fed. Rep. of Germany

  Michael Stadler

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