Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 6, 2026

Methods to Explore the Influence of Top-down Visual Processes on Motor Behavior
Published on: April 16, 2014
Top-down causation by information control: from a philosophical problem to a scientific research programme
G Auletta1, G F R Ellis, L Jaeger
1Pontifical Gregorian University, 00187 Rome, Italy.
Abstract:
It has been claimed that different types of causes must be considered in biological systems, including top-down as well as same-level and bottom-up causation, thus enabling the top levels to be causally efficacious in their own right. To clarify this issue, the important distinctions between information and signs are introduced here and the concepts of information control and functional equivalence classes in those systems are rigorously defined and used to characterize when top-down causation by feedback control happens, in a way that is testable. The causally significant elements we consider are equivalence classes of lower level processes, realized in biological systems through different operations having the same outcome within the context of information control and networks.
More Related Videos
07:43A Naturalistic Setup for Presenting Real People and Live Actions in Experimental Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience Studies
Published on: August 4, 2023
06:45Task Interruption and Resumption Paradigm for Testing the Activation and Pursuit of an Abstract Thinking Goal
Published on: April 18, 2017
Related Concept Videos
Criteria for Causality: Bradford Hill Criteria - II
Causality in Epidemiology
Cognitivism
Previously dominated by behaviorism, which prioritized observable behaviors and largely ignored mental processes, psychology transformed in the 1950s. Cognitive psychologists argue that understanding how we think and process information is...
Information Processing Approach
Criteria for Causality: Bradford Hill Criteria - I
The Scientific Method