Information processing structure

From Biomedical Cybernetics

Synonyms: Processing structure, intercausal net
German: Wirkungsgefüge

An Information processing structure (IPS) is a model for regulatory and communication processes in complex and dynamic systems. The model may be represented in a linguistic manner, graphically or mathematically, and it may be described on a qualitative or a quantitative level.

Examples for processing structures in living organisms are feedback mechanisms, antagonistic redundancy and lateral inhibition.

Characterising, modelling and simulation of information processing structures are subjects of systems theory. Biomedical diktyology searches for motifs as representation for processing structures in complex networks.