<P> The information fed back to the control center tends to oppose the departure of the controlled from the controlling quantity...</P> <P> While the view of feedback as any "circularity of action" helped to keep the theory simple and consistent, Ashby pointed out that, while it may clash with definitions that require a "materially evident" connection, "the exact definition of feedback is nowhere important". Ashby pointed out the limitations of the concept of "feedback": </P> <P> The concept of' feedback', so simple and natural in certain elementary cases, becomes artificial and of little use when the interconnections between the parts become more complex...Such complex systems cannot be treated as an interlaced set of more or less independent feedback circuits, but only as a whole . For understanding the general principles of dynamic systems, therefore, the concept of feedback is inadequate in itself . What is important is that complex systems, richly cross-connected internally, have complex behaviors, and that these behaviors can be goal - seeking in complex patterns . </P> <P> To reduce confusion, later authors have suggested alternative terms such as degenerative, self - correcting, balancing, or discrepancy - reducing in place of "negative". </P>

Briefly describe the effect of negative feedback mechanisms in biological systems