Horst Mittelstaedt | |
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Born | Neumünster, Germany | 28 April 1923
Died | 18 February 2016 Munich, Germany | (aged 92)
Nationality | German |
Known for | described the Reafference Principle together with Erich von Holst |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Biology, Cybernetics |
Institutions | Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Physiology |
Horst Mittelstaedt (28 April 1923 – 18 February 2016) was a German biologist and cybernetician. Together with Erich von Holst he demonstrated the "Reafference Principle" in 1950 (Das Reafferenzprinzip) concerning how an organism is able to separate reafferent (self-generated) sensory stimuli from exafferent (externally generated) sensory stimuli. This concept largely dealt with interactive processes between the central nervous system and its periphery.
Until 1999 he worked at the Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Physiology at Seewiesen, Bavaria. His scientific focus was cybernetic analysis of behaviour.
Mittelstaedt died in Munich on 18 February 2016, at the age of 92.[1]