Scientific Results – CNR – Istituto Nazionale di Ottica

Complexity and adaptation: a strategy common to scientific modeling and perception

Year: 2000

Authors: Arecchi F.T.

Autors Affiliation: Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, Largo E. Fermi 6, 50125 Firenze, Italy;
Dept. of Physics, University of Florence

Abstract: Scientific investigation displays close similarities with a perceptual task. In both cases, categories already stored in a semantic memory cannot be assumed as working hypotheses for an interpretation, but they must be matched with novel information, not deducible from the starting data set. The irruption of non trivial novelty is the mark of complexity as opposed to the simplicity of what can be deduced by an algorithmic procedure. The adaptive strategies, whereby we cope with complexity both in scientific modeling and in perception, represent a clear demonstration of the objective character of reality, which is not a mental construction.

Journal/Review: COGNITIVE PROCESSING

Volume: 1 Pages from: 23 to: 37

KeyWords: complexitty; nonlinear dynamics; feature binding; perception;