A physiologist's view of homeostasis
Open accessAbstract
Homeostasis is a core concept necessary for understanding the many regulatory mechanisms in physiology. Claude Bernard originally proposed the concept of the constancy of the "milieu interieur," but his discussion was rather abstract. Walter Cannon introduced the term "homeostasis" and expanded Bernard's notion of "constancy" of the internal environment in an explicit and concrete way. In the 1960s, homeostatic regulatory mechanisms in physiology began to be described as discrete processes following the application of engineering control system analysis to physiological systems. Unfortunately, many undergraduate texts continue to highlight abstract aspects of the concept rather than emphasizing a general model that can be specifically and comprehensively applied to all homeostatic mechanisms. As a result, students and instructors alike often fail to develop a clear, concise model with which to think about such systems. In this article, we present a standard model for homeostatic mechanisms to be used at the undergraduate level. We discuss common sources of confusion ("sticky points") that arise from inconsistencies in vocabulary and illustrations found in popular undergraduate texts. Finally, we propose a simplified model and vocabulary set for helping undergraduate students build effective mental models of homeostatic regulation in physiological systems.
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Homeostatic control involves reflex-like actions driven by feedback and prediction error-the discrepancy between an expected bodily state (a homeostatic setpoint) and its actual level as signaled by sensory inputs from the body.
“This control has long been known to involve reflex-like actions (comprising motor, endocrine, immunological, and autonomic processes) that are driven by feedback and the resulting “prediction error”—the discrepancy between an expected bodily state (a homeostatic setpoint2) and its actual level as signaled by sensory inputs from the body (Modell et al., 2015); see Figure 4.”
From Allostatic Self-efficacy: A Metacognitive Theory of Dyshomeostasis-Induced Fatigue and Depression (2016) · cites this paper as Modell et al., 2015
The generic homeostatic regulatory-system description (Fig. 1; page unavailable) says a sensor reports the actual value of a variable, an error detector compares it with a set point, and the resulting signal guides effectors. This supports the feedback-and-discrepancy part of the claim. The paper does not describe homeostatic control generally as reflex-like actions comprising motor, endocrine, immunological, and autonomic processes; its negative-feedback discussion notes that the muscle stretch reflex is not itself homeostatic. (LLM, conf=0.84)
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Allostatic Self-efficacy: A Metacognitive Theory of Dyshomeostasis-Induced Fatigue and Depression
Stephan, K. E., Manjaly, Z. M., Mathys, C. D., Weber, L. A. E., Paliwal, S., Gard, T., Tittgemeyer, M., Fleming, S. M., Haker, H., Seth, A. K., et al. (2016) · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnhum.2016.00550 · Cited by 437 · see citing works
“…motor, endocrine, immunological, and autonomic processes) that are driven by feedback and the resulting “prediction error”—the discrepancy between an expected bodily state (a homeostatic setpoint2) and its actual level as signaled by sensory inputs from the body (Modell et al., 2015); see Figure 4.”
BackgroundPetzschner, F. H., Weber, L. A. E., Gard, T., & Stephan, K. E. (2017) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2017.05.012 · Cited by 181 · see citing works
Levels of Emotional Awareness: Theory and Measurement of a Socio-Emotional Skill
Lane, R. D., & Smith, R. (2021) · Journal of Intelligence · doi:10.3390/jintelligence9030042 · Cited by 163 · see citing works
The first prior: From co-embodiment to co-homeostasis in early life
Ciaunica, A., Constant, A., Preissl, H., & Fotopoulou, K. (2021) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2021.103117 · Cited by 105 · see citing works
- Authors
- Modell, H., Cliff, W., Michael, J., McFarland, J., Wenderoth, M. P., & Wright, A.
- Affiliations
- Physiology Educational Research Consortium (US)
- Niagara University (US)
- Rush University Medical Center (US)
- Edmonds Community College (US)
- University of Washington (US)
- Canisius College (US)
- Corresponding author
- Modell, Harold
- Venue
- Advances in Physiology Education
- Publisher
- American Physiological Society
- Published
- 2015-12
- Volume
- 39
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 259-266
- ISSN
- 1043-4046 (ISSN-L)
- 1522-1229
- PMC
- PMC4669363
- OpenAlex
- W2215310868
- Cited by
- 279
- References
- 28
- Citations by year
- 2026: 21 · 2025: 39 · 2024: 38 · 2023: 35 · 2022: 49 · 2021: 26 · 2020: 26 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 6
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- AJP Advances in Physiology Education (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (NSF) (DUE-1043443)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Science Education and Pedagogy
- Social Sciences › Education › Science and Education Research
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › Philosophy and History of Science
- Keywords
- homeostasis, homeostatic regulation, Claude Bernard, milieu intérieur, Walter B. Cannon, control systems, feedback regulation, undergraduate physiology education, mental models, conceptual model
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Curriculum, Education, Professional, Homeostasis, Humans, Learning, Models, Biological, Terminology as Topic, Physiology, Teaching, Comprehension, Consensus, History, 20th Century, History, 21st Century
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