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The Brain as Regulator

Abstract

THERE has been some debate whether the brain is determinate or probabilistic in its behaviour. As a contribution to this question, the following argument shows that from one point of view the determinate system is demonstrably of greater efficiency than the probabilistic. The physiologist may therefore expect to find that natural selection has made the brain as determinate as possible.

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References

  1. Ashby, W. Ross, “Design for a Brain”, 2nd ed., 64 (Chapman and Hall, London, 1960).

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  3. Sommerhoff, G., “Analytical Biology” (Oxford University Press, London, 1950).

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  4. Shannon, C. E., and Weaver, W., “The Mathematical Theory of Communication” (University of Illinois Press, Urbana, 1949).

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ASHBY, W. The Brain as Regulator. Nature 186, 413 (1960). https://doi.org/10.1038/186413a0

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