Modularity of the brain allows for adaptive behavior and resilience to damage.
If a part of the brain is damaged, other parts can take over and perform the necessary tasks.
Damage to one part of the brain does not necessarily affect other modules.
Adaptation occurs on the level of these brain modules, demonstrating extreme resilience to damage.
In our last episode, we talked about the four conditions of complex systems: numerosity, disorder and diversity, feedback, and non-equilibrium — and we also talked about the concept of emergence. In this episode, which is part two of our two-part series on the features of complex systems, we're joined again by Karoline Wiesner, Professor of Complexity Science in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Potsdam in Germany.
In this episode, Karoline explains the six emergent features of complex systems:
Spontaneous order and self-organisation
Non-linearity
Robustness
Nested structure and modularity
History and memory
Adaptive behaviour
By the time you've finished this episode, you'll understand the underlying principles of complex systems that hold together the wide variety of topics we talk about in this series.