Table 1.

Nonlinear/complexity mechanisms and phenomena in physiology: partial list of possible contenders

Abrupt changes

Bifurcations

Intermittency/bursting

Bistability/multistability

Phase transitions

Hysteresis

Nonlinear oscillations

Limit cycles

Phase-resetting

Entrainment

Pacemaker annihilation

Scale-invariance

Fractal and multifractal scaling

Long-range correlations

Self-organized criticality

Diffusion limited aggregation

Alternans phenomena

Nonlinear waves: spirals; scrolls; solitons

Complex periodic cycles and quasiperiodicities

Stochastic resonance and related noise-modulated mechanisms

Time irreversibility

Complex networks

Deterministic chaos

Emergent properties

Modified from ref. 13.