Self-determination theory (SDT) maintains that an understanding of human motivation requires a consideration of innate psychological needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness. We discuss the SDT concept of needs as it relates to previous need theories, emphasizing that needs specify the necessary conditions for psychological growth, integrity, and well-being. This concept of needs leads to the hypotheses that different regulatory processes underlying goal pursuits are differentially associated with effective functioning and well-being and also that different goal contents have different relations to the quality of behavior and mental health, specifically because different regulatory processes and different goal contents are associated with differing degrees of need satisfaction. Social contexts and individual differences that support satisfaction of the basic needs facilitate natural growth processes including intrinsically motivated behavior and integration of extrinsic motivations, whereas those that forestall autonomy, competence, or relatedness are associated with poorer motivation, performance, and well-being. We also discuss the relation of the psychological needs to cultural values, evolutionary processes, and other contemporary motivation theories.

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The "What" and "Why" of Goal Pursuits: Human Needs and the Self-Determination of Behavior

This paper proposes a paradigm for managing the dynamic aspects of organizational knowledge creating processes. Its central theme is that organizational knowledge is created through a continuous dialogue between tacit and explicit knowledge. The nature of this dialogue is examined and four patterns of interaction involving tacit and explicit knowledge are identified. It is argued that while new knowledge is developed by individuals, organizations play a critical role in articulating and amplifying that knowledge. A theoretical framework is developed which provides an analytical perspective on the constituent dimensions of knowledge creation. This framework is then applied in two operational models for facilitating the dynamic creation of appropriate organizational knowledge.

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A Dynamic Theory of Organizational Knowledge Creation

What chiefly distinguishes cerebral cortex from other parts of the central nervous system is the great diversity of its cell types and interconnexions. It would be astonishing if such a structure did not profoundly modify the response patterns of fibres coming into it. In the cat's visual cortex, the receptive field arrangements of single cells suggest that there is indeed a degree of complexity far exceeding anything yet seen at lower levels in the visual system. In a previous paper we described receptive fields of single cortical cells, observing responses to spots of light shone on one or both retinas (Hubel & Wiesel, 1959). In the present work this method is used to examine receptive fields of a more complex type (Part I) and to make additional observations on binocular interaction (Part II). This approach is necessary in order to understand the behaviour of individual cells, but it fails to deal with the problem of the relationship of one cell to its neighbours. In the past, the technique of recording evoked slow waves has been used with great success in studies of functional anatomy. It was employed by Talbot & Marshall (1941) and by Thompson, Woolsey & Talbot (1950) for mapping out the visual cortex in the rabbit, cat, and monkey. Daniel & Whitteiidge (1959) have recently extended this work in the primate. Most of our present knowledge of retinotopic projections, binocular overlap, and the second visual area is based on these investigations. Yet the method of evoked potentials is valuable mainly for detecting behaviour common to large populations of neighbouring cells; it cannot differentiate functionally between areas of cortex smaller than about 1 mm2. To overcome this difficulty a method has in recent years been developed for studying cells separately or in small groups during long micro-electrode penetrations through nervous tissue. Responses are correlated with cell location by reconstructing the electrode tracks from histological material. These techniques have been applied to

Receptive fields, binocular interaction and functional architecture in the cat's visual cortex

http://www.oni.uerj.br/media/downloads/1-s2.0-S0048733399000554-main.pdf

The dynamics of innovation: from national systems and "Mode" 2 to a triple helix of university-industry-government relations.

Abstract The Triple Helix of university–industry–government relations is compared with alternative models for explaining the current research system in its social contexts. Communications and negotiations between institutional partners generate an overlay that increasingly reorganizes the underlying arrangements. The institutional layer can be considered as the retention mechanism of a developing system. For example, the national organization of the system of innovation has historically been important in determining competition. Reorganizations across industrial sectors and nation states, however, are induced by new technologies (biotechnology, ICT). The consequent transformations can be analyzed in terms of (neo-)evolutionary mechanisms. University research may function increasingly as a locus in the “laboratory” of such knowledge-intensive network transitions.

The dynamics of innovation: from National Systems and

Editorial Preface General Table Of Contents Foreword Introduction (by Professor Maturana) Biology Of Cognition Dedication Table of Contents I. Introduction II. The Problem III. Cognitive Function in General A. The Observer B. The Living System C. Evolution D. The Cognitive Process IV. Cognitive Function in Particular A. Nerve Cells B. Architecture C. Function D. Representation E. Description F. Thinking G. Natural Language H. Memory and Learning I. The Observer V. Problems in the Neurophysiology of Cognition VI. Conclusions VII. Post Scriptum Autopoiesis: The Organization Of The Living Preface (by Sir Stafford Beer) Introduction I. On Machines, living and Otherwise 1. Machines 2. Living Machines II. Dispensability of Teleonomy 1. Purposelessness 2. Individuality III. Embodiments of Autopoiesis 1. Descriptive and Causal Notions 2. Molecular Embodiments 3. Origin IV. Diversity of Autopoiesis 1. Subordination to the Condition of Unity 2. Plasticity of Ontogeny 3. Reproduction, a Complication of the Unity 4. Evolution, a Historical Network 5. Second and Third Order Autopoietic Systems V. Presence of Autopoiesis 1. Biological Implications 2. Epistemological Implications 3. Cognitive Implications Appendix: The Nervous System Glossary Bibliography Index Of Names

Autopoiesis and Cognition: The Realization of the Living

Autopoiesis and Cognition

The Tree of Knowledge: The Biological Roots of Human Understanding

In this paper, we analyze the activity of single fibers in the optic nerve of a frog. Our method is to find what sort of stimulus causes the largest activity in one nerve fiber and then what is the exciting aspect of that stimulus such that variations in everything else cause little change in the response. It has been known for the past 20 years that each fiber is connected not to a few rods and cones in the retina but to very many over a fair area. Our results show that for the most part within that area, it is not the light intensity itself but rather the pattern of local variation of intensity that is the exciting factor. There are four types of fibers, each type concerned with a different sort of pattern. Each type is uniformly distributed over the whole retina of the frog. Thus, there are four distinct parallel distributed channels whereby the frog's eye informs his brain about the visual image in terms of local pattern independent of average illumination. We describe the patterns and show the functional and anatomical separation of the channels. This work has been done on the frog, and our interpretation applies only to the frog.

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What the Frog's Eye Tells the Frog's Brain

Notwithstanding their diversity, all living systems must share a common organization which we implicitly recognize calling them “living.” At present there is no formulation of this organization, mainly because the great developments of molecular, genetic and evolutionary notions in contemporary biology have led to the overemphasis of isolated components, e.g., to consider reproduction as a necessary feature of the living organization and, hence, not to ask about the organization which makes a living system a whole, autonomous unity that is alive regardless of whether it reproduces or not. As a result, processes that are history dependent (evolution, ontogenesis) and history independent (individual organization) have been confused in the attempt to provide a single mechanistic explanation for phenomena which, although related, are fundamentally distinct.

Humberto R. Maturana

Papers

Autopoiesis and Cognition: The Realization of the Living

Autopoiesis and Cognition

The Tree of Knowledge: The Biological Roots of Human Understanding

What the Frog's Eye Tells the Frog's Brain

Autopoiesis: The Organization of Living Systems, Its Characterization and a Model