title: Topodynamics of metastable brains.
abstract: The brain displays both the anatomical features of a vast amount of interconnected topological mappings as well as the functional features of a nonlinear, metastable system at the edge of chaos, equipped with a phase space where mental random walks tend towards lower energetic basins. Nevertheless, with the exception of some advanced neuro-anatomic descriptions and present-day connectomic research, very few studies have been addressing the topological path of a brain embedded or embodied in its external and internal environment. Herein, by using new formal tools derived from algebraic topology, we provide an account of the metastable brain, based on the neuro-scientific model of Operational Architectonics of brain-mind functioning. We introduce a "topodynamic" description that shows how the relationships among the countless intertwined spatio-temporal levels of brain functioning can be assessed in terms of projections and mappings that take place on abstract structures, equipped with different dimensions, curvatures and energetic constraints. Such a topodynamical approach, apart from providing a biologically plausible model of brain function that can be operationalized, is also able to tackle the issue of a long-standing dichotomy: it throws indeed a bridge between the subjective, immediate datum of the naïve complex of sensations and mentations and the objective, quantitative, data extracted from experimental neuro-scientific procedures. Importantly, it opens the door to a series of new predictions and future directions of advancement for neuroscientific research.
authors.affiliation: Center for Nonlinear Science, University of North Texas, 1155 Union Circle, #311427, Denton, TX 76203-5017, USA. Electronic address: tozziarturo@libero.it.
authors.forename: Arturo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tozzi
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Manitoba, 75A Chancellor's Circle Winnipeg, MB R3T 5V6 Canada; Department of Mathematics, Adıyaman University, 02040 Adıyaman, Turkey. Electronic address: James.Peters3@umanitoba.ca.
authors.forename: James F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Peters
authors.affiliation: BM-Science - Brain and Mind Technologies Research Centre, Espoo, Finland. Electronic address: andrew.fingelkurts@bm-science.com.
authors.forename: Andrew A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Fingelkurts
authors.affiliation: BM-Science - Brain and Mind Technologies Research Centre, Espoo, Finland. Electronic address: alexander.fingelkurts@bm-science.com.
authors.forename: Alexander A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Fingelkurts
authors.affiliation: Bioinformation Group, Aragon Institute of Health Science (IACS), Aragon Health Research Institute (IIS Aragon), Zaragoza, 50009 Spain. Electronic address: pcmarijuan.iacs@aragon.es.
authors.forename: Pedro C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Marijuán
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans
keywords: Borsuk–Ulam theorem; Central nervous system; Mind; Nonlinear dynamics; Topology