Cybernetics studies control systems as a concept, trying to discover the basic principles underlying things like behavior, motivation, learning, and goal pursuit.
Although this is the broadest sense of cybernetics, the exact scope of cybernetics in this broader sense is not entirely clear, since cybernetics in a narrower applied sense is often limited to the «higher» problems of managing communication systems. In applications of cybernetics to the human system, this understanding of cybernetics usually differs. Cybernetics is a view of complexity. That is, cybernetics studies how things connect and the interactions that occur between them. Cybernetics has received widespread attention thanks to research in computer science, systems theory, and information theory. Much of this research, especially in fields such as robotics, incorporates ideas from cybernetics and looks at the human systems that underlie them.
Cybernetics is the study of how complex feedback systems, feedback loops, and other dynamic processes interact to create a complex organization. It covers management theory and social and economic systems. In its simplest form, cybernetics studies feedback systems, which are usually «motivated by one or more goals, which may be known or unknown». It is often studied alongside other fields such as mechanics, electronics, mechanical engineering, manufacturing, and others such as economics.
Control theory and feedback loops in one form or another can be found in most modern technologies. For example, in systems engineering, control theory is used to design and implement automated control systems, and in operations research, control theory is used in linear programming problems. In computer science and systems engineering, feedback loops are also used to design and implement electronic communication networks. Many modern forms of computing have both a control theory-based implementation and a model-based or cybernetics-based abstraction.
In architectural theory, cybernetics has a long and sometimes controversial history. The philosophy of cybernetics has a built-in concept according to which the goal of the scientific study of the phenomena of life is to achieve intellectual control over them. In other words, cybernetics sought to achieve absolute control over the subject. Since cybernetics deals with the mechanics of a complex system, it has a profound effect on the physical aspects of building construction. An example of this is the construction of the Olympic Village for the 1996 Summer Olympics, which was recognized by the American Society of Civil Engineers as the most advanced technology in architecture because it used embedded data-driven computer systems to control the buildings. Computer systems provided efficient waste disposal to save money on sanitation. The main buildings have been optimized for energy efficiency and designed so that simple power cables can be easily replaced. This resulted in less damage to buildings in the event of a fire. The buildings were built with many devices and computer control. In many ways, the Olympic Village is a symbol of the utopian cybernetic architectural movement.
Biology
Theories of human behavior and decision making have been known for hundreds of years. However, it is only relatively recently that psychologists have gained an understanding of the factors that contribute to human decision-making and how their decisions are influenced by sensory, motor and cognitive information processing. Modern psychology studies the influence of these factors on people in order to understand how people think, act and interact with each other. Modern discoveries in psychology are using computers to aid in their experiments. Computers can simulate processes in the human brain and allow researchers to conduct new experiments in this area.
The revolution in molecular genetics has become a watershed for neuroscientists, as molecular biology, coupled with relatively recent advances in electrochemistry and optogenetics, has created many experimental tools for studying the brain. This allowed neuroscientists to understand the functional architecture and organization of the brain, and to determine the role of neural networks in the brain, especially in cognition. The idea of neural networks in the brain arose from the study of a biological model of the nervous system, in which cells were divided into specific functionally integrated groups, with groups with the same type of function having the strongest relationship. Thanks to the discovery of the molecular genetic foundations of the functioning of the nervous system, such as the role of transcription factors and proteins in the formation of the neural network, as well as the biophysics of gene expression, a number of genetic tools have emerged to study the relationship between the molecular genetics of neural networks. It is now understood that the neurobiological mechanisms underlying cognition are the result of global brain networks formed by tens of thousands of neuronal cells.
Developments in neuroscience include brain imaging, bioelectrical impedance analysis, magnetic resonance imaging, functional magnetic resonance imaging, transcranial magnetic stimulation, and electroencephalography, which are some of the most important tools for neurobiological research.
These tools also play an important role in connecting the brain’s neural networks with the cerebral cortex, which is responsible for our higher cognitive functions such as language, perception, memory, attention, thinking, reasoning, and emotion. It’s a link that hasn’t been made before, linking the functional architecture of an area of the brain to the fundamental workings of that area.
Neuropsychology is a branch of psychology devoted to the study of the psychology of human consciousness and the human mind in general. Neuropsychology tries to understand the human mind on a neural basis, that is, through the interaction of various neural circuits (neurons and synapses). It is also considered to be the most rigorous and reliable branch of clinical psychology. It can help people with all aspects of the functioning of the brain, mind and body and can help provide answers to the questions: «What happens in the brain during mental processes»? and «What are the neural foundations of such processes as: sight, hearing, emotion, memory, self-awareness, thought, decision-making, thought process, language, understanding, reasoning, sleep or consciousness»? It provides a common language and common language that transcends different disciplines. Neuropsychology tries to be a comprehensive science in the field of psychology and science, understanding the mechanisms underlying human mental functions and using the results of the cognitive, neurological and physiological sciences to elucidate the basic processes and explain human cognition. Neuropsychology studies the emergence of the human mind from its neural sources and is the leading scientific field of research on the brain and behavior.
Research into the neurochemistry of motivation and skill acquisition in sports has led to a better understanding of the interaction between skill acquisition and brain physiology. Musicians’ research has shown that although they have a large frontal cortex, most of the emotional areas of their brains are overwhelmed by incoming information. This makes it necessary to constantly switch attention from the concrete details of the problem to abstract thinking. The same effect can be seen with high-level artists; they must constantly shift their attention from analyzing a work of art to working on another.
Research has shown that the hippocampus is involved in decision making. The hippocampus participates in memory and decision making by providing input during decision processing. The left-lateralized hippocampus is involved in decision-making that is more efficiently processed by the influence of the left hemisphere. This activation of the right hemisphere of the brain when making a decision is known as the lateralized effect. In other words, the right hemisphere is more likely to use logic and reasoning when making decisions, while the left hemisphere uses emotions and feelings to make decisions. The right hemisphere uses affect as its base input, while the left hemisphere uses analytical reasoning. The right hemisphere of the brain is more dominant in decision making. Studies of lateralized decision making in both the right and left hemispheres of the brain have shown that processing in the left hemisphere during decision making aids coding of information in episodic memory and decision making. The activation of the right hemisphere during decision making is associated with gamma fluctuations in the cerebral cortex. It was found that gamma waves in the cerebral cortex are triggered by encoding incoming sensory data into episodic memory. The hippocampus is involved in the restoration and maintenance of long-term memory. The hippocampus works in conjunction with the medial temporal lobe and entorhinal cortex to create spatial memory. Consequently, the processing of spatial information leads to the creation of episodic memory. It has also been observed that the right hemisphere of the brain can access episodic memory more easily. This may be due to the fact that the right side of the brain plays a much more important role in spatial processing and generation of information in long-term memory. This confirms the hypothesis that the right side of the brain is better at extracting and processing spatial information.
The medial temporal lobe is associated with short-term memory, semantic memory, language, speech production, language understanding and production, speech processing, facial processing, and emotional and prosodic processing. The hippocampus is closely associated with the medial temporal lobe, including Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area.
It has been suggested that the medial temporal lobe is associated with memory consolidation, whereas the hippocampus may be responsible for retention, learning, and knowledge. This is supported by studies that show that during consolidation, hippocampal formation works to integrate episodic memory and choose which information to retain from the original memory. In contrast, Wernicke’s zone and associative zone help maintain the integrity and availability of memory.
Many other brain structures contribute to memory. However, the hippocampus is primarily responsible for creating space-time maps. The hippocampus plays an important role in contextual information. For example, space-time maps are used to figure out where a body is in relation to its environment. The medial temporal lobe is associated with complex thinking, speech, and higher cognitive functions. In addition, it plays an important role in the processing of emotions. The medial temporal lobe also functions as a connection between the two hemispheres of the brain and aids in emotional and affective processing.