Criticality in the brain: A synthesis of neurobiology, models and cognition

Cocchi, Luca; Gollo, Leonardo L; Zalesky, Andrew; Breakspear, Michael

doi:10.1016/j.pneurobio.2017.07.002

Cited by 421 publications

(396 citation statements)

References 246 publications

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“…The scale-invariant nature of neuronal avalanches describes the firing of nerve cells 8,9 and, at larger scales, captures neuronal population dynamics in zebrafish 10 , nonhuman primates 7,11,12 , and humans [13][14][15][16][17][18] . This supports the idea that the brain might operate close to a critical state [19][20][21][22] where numerous aspects of information processing are optimized [23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30] . Yet, avalanche size and duration statistics do not provide insight into the process of cascading itself.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 80%

The scale-invariant, temporal profile of neuronal avalanches in relation to cortical γ–oscillations

Miller

Plenz

2019

Preprint

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Miller et al.The temporal profile of neuronal avalanches 2 ABSTRACT Activity cascades are found in many complex systems. In the cortex, they arise in the form of neuronal avalanches which capture ongoing and evoked neuronal activities at many spatial and temporal scales. The scale-invariant nature of avalanches suggests that the brain is in a critical state, yet predictions from critical theory on the temporal unfolding of avalanches have yet to be confirmed in vivo. Here we show in awake nonhuman primates that the temporal profile of avalanches, which describes how avalanches initiate locally, extend spatially and shrink as they evolve in time, follows a symmetrical, inverted parabola spanning up to hundreds of milliseconds. Parabolas of different durations can be collapsed with a scaling exponent close to 2 supporting critical generational models of neuronal avalanches. Spontaneously emerging, transient γ-oscillations coexist with and modulate these avalanche parabolas thereby providing a temporal segmentation to inherently scale-invariant, critical dynamics. Our results identify avalanches and oscillations as dual principles in the temporal organization of brain activity. Significance StatementThe most common framework for understanding the temporal organization of brain activity is that of oscillations, or "brain waves". In oscillations, distinct physiological frequencies emerge at well-defined temporal scales, dividing brain activity into time segments underlying cortex function. Here, we identify a fundamentally different temporal parsing of activity in cortex. In awake Macaque monkeys, we demonstrate the motif of an inverted parabola that governs the temporal unfolding of brain activity in the form of neuronal avalanches. This symmetrical motif is scale-invariant, that is, it is not tied to time segments, and exhibits a scaling exponent close to 2 in line with prediction from theory of critical systems. We suggest that oscillations provide a Miller et al.The temporal profile of neuronal avalanches 3 transient "wrinkle" of regularity in an otherwise scale-invariant temporal organization pervading cortical activity at numerous scales.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 80%

The scale-invariant, temporal profile of neuronal avalanches in relation to cortical γ–oscillations

Miller

Plenz

2019

Preprint

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“…In the case of the brain dynamics there is wide consensus on the connection between consciousness and criticality. See, for instance, [9,[16][17][18] and the recent review paper [19]. The electroencephalogram (EEG) signals are characterized by abrupt changes, called rapid transition processes (RTP), which are proved [20,21] to be renewal non-Poisson events, with ≈ 2.…”

Section: Complexitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The value of adjusts according to (11) from small values around 0.2 to a maximal value of 1.8, which is known to correspond to a supercritical condition in the case of the conventional DMM. When using the fine tuning control parameter approach we set = 1.8; the social system is far from the intelligence condition that according to a widely accepted opinion [9,[16][17][18][19]] requires criticality. (11) for the same regular two-dimensional network of Figure 1; red line: the time evolution of ( ) of the self-organized system described by the black under the influence of the weak noisy perturbation described in Section 4.…”

Section: Top-down Approach To Self-organized Temporal Criticalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-Organized Temporal Criticality: Bottom-Up Resilience versus Top-Down Vulnerability

2018

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We propose a social model of spontaneous self-organization generating criticality and resilience, called Self-Organized Temporal Criticality (SOTC). The criticality-induced long-range correlation favors the societal benefit and can be interpreted as the social system becoming cognizant of the fact that altruism generates societal benefit. We show that when the spontaneous bottom-up emergence of altruism is replaced by a top-down process, mimicking the leadership of an elite, the crucial events favoring the system's resilience are turned into collapses, corresponding to the falls of the leading elites. We also show with numerical simulation that the top-down SOTC lacks the resilience of the bottom-up SOTC. We propose this theoretical model to contribute to the mathematical foundation of theoretical sociology illustrated in 1901 by Pareto to explain the rise and fall of elites.

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“…Growing evidence also indicates that the number of spatio-temporal patterns of activity is maximized at criticality (5). This is a highly variable, adaptive and flexible dynamical regime (6)(7)(8) that optimizes the capability of storing information (9), the efficient transmission of information across the brain (6), the response to internal fluctuations (10)(11)(12)(13) and the detection of external stimuli (14,15); for review see (16).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Extensive functional repertoire underpins complex behaviours: insights from Parkinson’s disease

Sorrentino

Rucco

Baselice

et al. 2019

Preprint

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Rapid reconfigurations of brain activity support efficient neuronal communication and flexible behaviour. Suboptimal brain dynamics impair this adaptability, possibly leading to functional deficiencies. We hypothesize that impaired flexibility in brain activity can lead to motor and cognitive symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD). To test this hypothesis, we studied the 'functional repertoire' the number of distinct configurations of neural activityusing source-reconstructed magnetoencephalography in PD patients and controls. We found stereotyped brain dynamics and reduced flexibility in PD. The intensity of this reduction was proportional to symptoms severity, and explained by beta-band hyper-synchronization. Moreover, the basal ganglia were prominently involved in the abnormal patterns of brain activity. Our findings support the hypotheses that: symptoms in PD reflect impaired brain flexibility, this impairment preferentially involves the basal ganglia, and beta-band hypersynchronization is associated with reduced brain flexibility. These findings highlight the importance of extensive functional repertoires for behaviour and motor.Parkinson's disease (PD) is a severe and disabling neurodegenerative disorder. It is characterized by reduced amplitude of movements, and slowing of cognitive processes, imposing major individual and social burden (24). The main histopathological finding in PD is a severe nigrostriatal dopamine depletion (25,26). PD has traditionally been regarded predominantly as a motor disease. However, recent clinical and neuroimaging findings have questioned these views (27). For example, the first symptoms to appear are often not motor, and the clinical phenotype clearly goes well beyond the motor impairment, with other domains, such as executive functioning, involved (28,29). Structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has also confirmed that PD is more widespread than previously thought (27). Although functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) studies have identified impairment in the corticostriatal network in PD patients, the observed changes in functional connectivity extend into many other brain systems (30). Similarly, magnetoencephalography (MEG) studies have also reported widespread functional connectivity alterations in PD (31-34) .The brain can be represented as a network, with, at the macro-scale, brain areas as 'nodes' and structural or functional relationships between the brain areas as 'edges ' (35, 36), following which the topology of the network can be characterised using graph theory. A rapidly growing body of research now uses graph theory to characterize large-scale patterns of brain activation in health (37) and disease (38). Graph theory has highlighted the multifaceted nature of large-scale interactions in PD, with studies reporting more-connected networks (39-42), less-connected networks (43-48), and a combination of both (49,50). However, most research in this area has assumed brain activity to be stationary, and did not explore the structure of dynamic fluctuations in activity...

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Criticality in the brain: A synthesis of neurobiology, models and cognition

Cited by 421 publications

References 246 publications

The scale-invariant, temporal profile of neuronal avalanches in relation to cortical γ–oscillations

The scale-invariant, temporal profile of neuronal avalanches in relation to cortical γ–oscillations

Self-Organized Temporal Criticality: Bottom-Up Resilience versus Top-Down Vulnerability

Extensive functional repertoire underpins complex behaviours: insights from Parkinson’s disease

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