Brain mechanisms and variability: II. Variability where no learning is involved.

Krechevsky, I.

doi:10.1037/h0056131

Cited by 59 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Such a process prioritizes certain items in a list over others (for instance yaw turns over thrust control, roll or proboscis extension) and has been shown to lead to heavy-tailed behavior patterns [33], [67]. These considerations lend credence to an early, rarely cited cognitive hypothesis on the significance of behavioral variability in vertebrates [28] and suggest that it is actually much more profoundly valid throughout the taxa, with the prospect of studying its biological basis in a genetically tractable model system. Identifying the neural circuitry housing the initiator will be the logical next step in this research.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

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Order in Spontaneous Behavior

et al. 2007

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Brains are usually described as input/output systems: they transform sensory input into motor output. However, the motor output of brains (behavior) is notoriously variable, even under identical sensory conditions. The question of whether this behavioral variability merely reflects residual deviations due to extrinsic random noise in such otherwise deterministic systems or an intrinsic, adaptive indeterminacy trait is central for the basic understanding of brain function. Instead of random noise, we find a fractal order (resembling Lévy flights) in the temporal structure of spontaneous flight maneuvers in tethered Drosophila fruit flies. Lévy-like probabilistic behavior patterns are evolutionarily conserved, suggesting a general neural mechanism underlying spontaneous behavior. Drosophila can produce these patterns endogenously, without any external cues. The fly's behavior is controlled by brain circuits which operate as a nonlinear system with unstable dynamics far from equilibrium. These findings suggest that both general models of brain function and autonomous agents ought to include biologically relevant nonlinear, endogenous behavior-initiating mechanisms if they strive to realistically simulate biological brains or out-compete other agents.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…1a). A less prominent alternative explanation contends that some of the variability is adaptive and irreducible [19], [20], [28]. According to this latter view, individual behavior is fundamentally indeterministic (not fundamentally deterministic but noisy) and precise prediction principally (not only technically) impossible (Fig.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Order in Spontaneous Behavior

et al. 2007

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“…Variation in the selection of routes to the goal by the rat has been demonstrated by Dashiell ( 2 ) , Krechevsky ( 5 ) , and Hebb and Mahut (4).…”

Section: A Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Variability in Maze-Path Selection by Turtle

Spigel

1966

The Journal of General Psychology

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“…Fujita (1959) found that electroconvulsive shock (ECS) reduces amount of alternation in the rat, and Krechevsky's (1937) cortically operated rats showed stereotyped (less variable) response more often than the normal rats in maze running. Similarly amount of alternation was reduced below 50% in the shocked rats (Iwahara, 1960a, b) and in the shocked cochroaches (Iwahara & Soeda, 1957).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%