Anticipation: Learning from the Past

Abstract

This paper analyzes the complex dynamics of cortico-subcortical organization of action anticipation and its variability in different conditions based on A. A. Ukhtomsky’s theory of dominance and N.P. Bechtereva’s neurophysiological research on functional brain states and the neural mechanisms of higher forms of psychic activity. The neurodynamical formations created in the brain in the course of cognitive activity and the interactions of these formations are seen as determining human adaptive reactions and the systemic organization of adaptive behavior and cognitive functions—including anticipation. Arguments and grounds are given for conceptualizing the brain as a complexly-organized, “floating” multiloop neurodynamic substrate with a hierarchical organization of activity on various temporal and intensity scales in realizing different types of cognitive functions and brain states.