Even though behavior tends to occur as a continuous stream of action in most situations, there are discernible regularities that lead observers to label and measure discrete “behavior patterns. ” Yet such discrete actions may not be how the nervous system organizes motor output. Sometimes, the perceived regularities are emergent properties of the interaction among the brain, the body within which that brain is situated, and the context within which the action takes place. Moreover, the brain’s contribution may be limited to providing a perceptual rule, where some feature of the environment is kept constant. However, a problem arises when more than one behavior can solve a perceptual problem. It is theorized that, in such situations, the nervous system has a built-in bias to preferentially use one behavioral solution over another. Some possible motor biases are explored. How regularity in motor output is achieved greatly constrains how behavior can evolve. © 2014 Elsevier Inc.
Pattern in Behavior: The Characterization, Origins, and Evolution of Behavior Patterns.
