What is Positive and Negative Feedback:
The feedback it’s a systems control mechanism in which the results obtained from a task or activity are reintroduced into the system with the purpose of influencing or acting on future decisions or actions, either to maintain balance in the system or to lead the system towards a new one. In this sense, we can talk about two types of feedback: the positive and the negative.
The negative feedback Its function is the control and regulation of the processes of a system. As such, it is responsible for maintaining balance within the system, counteracting or modifying the consequences of certain actions. Hence it is associated with homeostatic processes or self-regulation.
For example: They ask us to carry out ten tasks in five hours, but we are able to carry them out in three. Next, we are required to use the five hours for the completion of the ten tasks at the next opportunity. There, a negative feedback process has occurred so that the system returns to its original equilibrium, based on the quality of task execution.
Positive feedbackfor its part, is responsible for amplifying or enhancing certain changes or deviations introduced in a system, so that it can evolve or grow towards a new state of equilibrium, different from the previous one.
For example: They ask us to perform the ten tasks again in five hours, and we are able to have solved them in just three hours. So, they congratulate us and ask us to continue reducing the amount of time we spend on tasks. There the feedback has been positive, the system is seeking a new balance based on efficiency.
The purpose of positive and negative feedback processes It is always focused on optimizing the behavior of the systems, according to certain patterns and criteria. As such, it is a mechanism that applies to virtually any process that involves the control and adjustment of a system. In this sense, it is used in areas such as communication, psychology, business management, electronics, education and medicine.
Feedback in physiology
In the field of physiology, in Medicine, feedback is a concept that refers to the control mechanism of many physiological processes in the body. As such, there are two types: positive and negative feedback.
Negative feedback: is one that produces an effect opposite to the initial stimulus. This means that if any factor within the organism becomes excessive or insufficient, negative feedback will act to return the organism to its normal levels. As such, it is a system of regulation and control of organic functions.
Positive feedback: is one that, based on an initial stimulus, responds by enhancing or amplifying the organism’s reaction. This can occur as a result of a deficiency or excess of some factor in the body. Hence, positive feedback needs negative feedback for its regulation.
In this sense, if it happens that, for example, a gland of the endocrine system produces a certain hormone in excessive quantities, it will need positive feedback to reduce hormonal production and, subsequently, negative feedback to regulate the production of hormones in the body. .
Hence, it is considered that both negative and positive feedback work together to maintain homeostasis in the human body, that is, the self-regulatory phenomena that lead to the maintenance of an organism.