Coordination Dynamics in Cognitive Neuroscience

Coordination Dynamics in Cognitive Neuroscience

Many researchers and clinicians in cognitive neuroscience hold to a modular view of cognitive function in which the cerebral cortex operates by the activation of areas with circumscribed elementary cognitive functions. Yet an ongoing paradigm shift to a dynamic network perspective is underway. This new viewpoint treats cortical function as arising from the coordination dynamics within and betwe...

A Cognitive Neuroscience Perspective on Bimanual Coordination and Interference

We argue that bimanual coordination and interference depends critically on how these actions are represented on a cognitive level. We first review the literature on spatial interactions, focusing on the difference between movements directed at visual targets and movements cued symbolically. Interactions manifest during response planning are limited to the latter condition. These results suggest...

Toward a Complementary Neuroscience: Metastable Coordination Dynamics of the Brain

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 dynamics we show explicitly that metastability is a result of a symmetry breaking caused by the subtle interplay of two forces: the tendency of the components to couple together and the tendency of the components to express...

Concurrent Cognitive Task Modulates Coordination Dynamics

Does a concurrent cognitive task affect the dynamics of bimanual rhythmic coordination? In-phase coordination was performed under manipulations of phase detuning and movement frequency and either singly or in combination with an arithmetic task. Predicted direction-specific shifts in stable relative phase from 0° due to detuning and movement frequency were amplified by the cognitive task. Nonli...

The Challenges of Cognitive Neuroscience in the 21st Century