title: Practopoiesis: or how life fosters a mind.
abstract: The mind is a biological phenomenon. Thus, biological principles of organization should also be the principles underlying mental operations. Practopoiesis states that the key for achieving intelligence through adaptation is an arrangement in which mechanisms laying at a lower level of organization, by their operations and interaction with the environment, enable creation of mechanisms laying at a higher level of organization. When such an organizational advance of a system occurs, it is called a traverse. A case of traverse is when plasticity mechanisms (at a lower level of organization), by their operations, create a neural network anatomy (at a higher level of organization). Another case is the actual production of behavior by that network, whereby the mechanisms of neuronal activity operate to create motor actions. Practopoietic theory explains why the adaptability of a system increases with each increase in the number of traverses. With a larger number of traverses, a system can be relatively small and yet, produce a higher degree of adaptive/intelligent behavior than a system with a lower number of traverses. The present analyses indicate that the two well-known traverses - neural plasticity and neural activity - are not sufficient to explain human mental capabilities. At least one additional traverse is needed, which is named anapoiesis for its contribution in reconstructing knowledge e.g., from long-term memory into working memory. The conclusions bear implications for brain theory, the mind-body explanatory gap, and developments of artificial intelligence technologies.
authors: Department of Neurophysiology, Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Deutschordenstraße 46, D-60528 Frankfurt/M, Germany; Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (FIAS), Ruth-Moufang-Straße 1, D-60438 Frankfurt/M, Germany; Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for Neuroscience in Cooperation with Max Planck Society, Deutschordenstraße 46, D-60528 Frankfurt/M, Germany; Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia. Electronic address: danko.nikolic@gmail.com.
authors: Danko
authors: D
authors: Nikolić
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D003491:Cybernetics; D007360:Intelligence; D008954:Models, Biological; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Adaptive systems; Cybernetics; Intelligent behavior; Neurophysiology