Theories of Metastability

Oscillatory Activity and Coordination DynamicsThe dynamical system model, which represents networks composed of integrated neural systems communicating with one another between unstable and stable phases, has become an increasingly popular theory underpinning the understanding of metastability. Coordination dynamics forms the basis for this dynamical system model by describing mathematical formulae and paradigms governing the coupling of environmental stimuli to their effectors.History of Coordination Dynamics and the Haken-Kelso-Bunz (HKB) ModelThe so-named HKB model is one of the earliest and well-respected theories to describe coordination dynamics in the brain. In this model, the formation of neural networks can be partly described as self-organization, where individual neurons and small neuronal systems aggregate and coordinate to either adapt or respond to local stimuli or to divide labor and specialize in function.In the last 20 years, the HKB model has become a widely-accepted theory to explain the coordinated movements and behaviors of individual neurons into large, end-to-end neural networks. Originally the model described a system in which spontaneous transitions observed in finger movements could be described as a series of in-phase and out-of-phase movements.In the mid-1980s HKB model experiments, subjects were asked to wave one finger on each hand in two modes of direction: first, known as out of phase, both fingers moving in the same direction back and forth (as windshield wipers might move); and second, known as in-phase, where both fingers come together and move away to and from the midline of the body. To illustrate coordination dynamics, the subjects were asked to move their fingers out of phase with increasing speed until their fingers were moving as fast as possible. As movement approached its critical speed, the subjects’ fingers were found to move from out-of-phase (windshield-wiper-like) movement to in-phase (toward midline movement).The HKB model, which has also been elucidated by several complex mathematical descriptors, is still a relatively simple but powerful way to describe seemingly-independent systems that come to reach synchrony just before a state of self-organized criticality.