Robert A. M. Gregson, Australian National University, Canberra

Abstract: Examples of conscious and interpretable responses that have two or more forms alternating to the same stimuli have been known for centuries, and methods of describing how such situations arise have evolved in biological science. When switches between transient, perceptual or cognitive responses can occur and are mixed serially within time series exhibiting local terminal stability, then patterns arise where psychological data series are too brief to analyse empirically, and neurophysiological data and mathematical simulation are necessary. Modelling such conditions can be approached by using one modified Markov matrix, which we illustrate if we allow some singularities to exist in the dynamics. As soon as networks cease to be homogeneous and have a number of attractors present and operate with different local structures, then one or more response patterns may potentially exist at the same time. The patterns may be addressed within the behavioural dynamics by incorporating in turn very short transients that can be voluntary or involuntary, in sensory and cognitive data. Related software work for modelling, employing hierarchical Dirichlet structures projected into hidden Markov matrices is noted.

Keywords: multistability systems, time series, switching, chaos, networks, neuroscience, cognition