Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

1994

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Kelso, J. A. Scott

Abstract

In this thesis the transition region between two modes of behavior is explored using a novel technique, delayed feedback, and a variety of dynamical systems measures. In a previous study, Engstrom, Kelso, and Holroyd (to appear) established the existence of a transition between anticipatory and reactive behavior in a sensorimotor coordination task as a control parameter (frequency) was varied. Here, in order to explore the hypothesis that the behavioral dynamics during this transition are intermittent in character, subjects were asked to synchronize with a metronome that was actually a delayed copy of their own response pattern. The use of delayed feedback was expected to destabilize the behavioral dynamics enough to allow the observation of hypothesized intermittent phenomena. Use of delayed feedback was shown to destabilize synchronization, resulting in the emergence of a new behavioral pattern in the transition region that exhibited complex "bursting" dynamics. Analysis revealed that this bursting behavior displays many of the characteristics common to intermittency, which supports the idea that the anticipation-reaction transition is the result of a neurobehavioral dynamical system losing stability. Living in the vicinity of instabilities may be an important mechanism for biological organisms to maintain both flexibility and stability.

Extent

113 p.

Comments

Charles E. Schmidt College of Science|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1994.|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

Identifier

FADT15042

Format

pdf

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