1992/08/28 by Alan Garfinkel, Mark L. Spano, William L. Ditto +1 · 5 citations
Computer Science · Physics and Astronomy · Neuroscience · #Nonlinear Dynamics and Pattern Formation #Chaos control and synchronization #Neural dynamics and brain function
paper · doi:10.1126/science.1519060
openalex publication_date 1992/08/28 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
The extreme sensitivity to initial conditions that chaotic systems display makes them unstable and unpredictable. Yet that same sensitivity also makes them highly susceptible to control, provided that the developing chaos can be analyzed in real time and that analysis is then used to make small control interventions. This strategy has been used here to stabilize cardiac arrhythmias induced by the drug ouabain in rabbit ventricle. By administering electrical stimuli to the heart at irregular times determined by chaos theory, the arrhythmia was converted to periodic beating.