title: The brain has a body: adaptive behavior emerges from interactions of nervous system, body and environment.
abstract: Studies of mechanisms of adaptive behavior generally focus on neurons and circuits. But adaptive behavior also depends on interactions among the nervous system, body and environment: sensory preprocessing and motor post-processing filter inputs to and outputs from the nervous system; co-evolution and co-development of nervous system and periphery create matching and complementarity between them; body structure creates constraints and opportunities for neural control; and continuous feedback between nervous system, body and environment are essential for normal behavior. This broader view of adaptive behavior has been a major underpinning of ecological psychology and has influenced behavior-based robotics. Computational neuroethology, which jointly models neural control and periphery of animals, is a promising methodology for understanding adaptive behavior.
authors.affiliation: Dept of Biology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106-7080, USA.
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Chiel
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Beer
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D004777:Environment; D006801:Humans; D009424:Nervous System Physiological Phenomena