title: Scaling in cognitive performance reflects multiplicative multifractal cascade dynamics.
abstract: Self-organized criticality purports to build multi-scaled structures out of local interactions. Evidence of scaling in various domains of biology may be more generally understood to reflect multiplicative interactions weaving together many disparate scales. The self-similarity of power-law scaling entails homogeneity: fluctuations distribute themselves similarly across many spatial and temporal scales. However, this apparent homogeneity can be misleading, especially as it spans more scales. Reducing biological processes to one power-law relationship neglects rich cascade dynamics. We review recent research into multifractality in executive-function cognitive tasks and propose that scaling reflects not criticality but instead interactions across multiple scales and among fluctuations of multiple sizes.
authors.affiliation: Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Damian G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Stephen
authors.forename: Jason R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Anastas
authors.forename: James A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Dixon