Plasticity and causal history in complex adaptive systems: The case of the human brain

This chapter explores and reviews progress with the concepts of plasticity, rigidity and causal history in brain research and related fields. Extensive use is made of papers and books in neuroscience and related fields (e.g. psychiatry, psychology, psychophysiology), as well as meeting proceedings and special issues of leading journals. The goal of the chapter is to show that the human brain is plastic and that it contains various feedback loops that affect the ways we behave. Processes of circular causality (i.e. upward and downward causation) govern our brain's functioning. What we experience can alter the detailed neuronal structure of our brain and, in turn, that changed neuronal structure can affect what we feel, believe or do in the future. A deeper understanding of plasticity, rigidities and feedback systems may provide a clearer picture of the causal and influence networks evolving within the brain – and how they shape our state(s) of mind.