multistableadj.
/ˌmʌltɪˈsteɪbl/, U.S. /ˌməltiˈsteɪb(ə)l/; see also multi- comb. form. 1. Of a system: composed of a number of interconnected or interdependent subsystems each of which can achieve stability independently of the others.
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the world > life > biology > biological processes > action of nervous system > [adjective] > of other conditions of the nervous system
deafferented1909
multistable1952
1952 W. R. Ashby Design for Brain xvi. 171 A multistable system consists of many ultrastable systems joined main variable to main variable, all the main variables being part-functions.
1965 Mind 74 259 Taylor proposes to regard the living organism in its environment as a multistable system.
1973 Q. Rev. Biol. 48 246/1 An organism's nervous system is viewed as a multistable system which interacts with a complicated, multivariate environment.
2. Stable in more than one state; multiply stable.
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1957 Math. Tables & Other Aids Computation 11 123 The session on rapid access storage described..multistable vacuum tube circuits.
1971 Sci. Amer. Dec. 63/2 When alternative representations or descriptions of the input are equally good, the perceptual system will sometimes adopt one and sometimes another. In other words, the perception is multistable.
1996 Nature 18 Apr. 621 This finding places binocular rivalry in the general category of multistable phenomena, such as ambiguous figures.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1952