This papel provides a general discussion of the biobehavioral approach as discussed by Donahoe, Burgos, and Palmer, (1993) and Donahoe and Palmer, 1994). It raises the hypothesis that a synthetic theory on the origin of complex behavior would show how the cumulative effects of relatively simple reinforcement processes lead to the diversity and complexity of human behavior. These authors used computer simulations to generate analogues of complex behavioral phenomena, integrated with neurological processes that have been established through experimental analysis. This integration between behavioral and neuroscientific findings may constitute a synthesis which might claim behavioral complexity as being of its domain.
biobehavioral approach; behavior analysis; reiforcement; connectionism; adaptive networks