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Emergent complex neural dynamics

Nature Physics volume 6, pages 744–750 (2010)Cite this article

Abstract

A large repertoire of spatiotemporal activity patterns in the brain is the basis for adaptive behaviour. Understanding the mechanism by which the brain’s hundred billion neurons and hundred trillion synapses manage to produce such a range of cortical configurations in a flexible manner remains a fundamental problem in neuroscience. One plausible solution is the involvement of universal mechanisms of emergent complex phenomena evident in dynamical systems poised near a critical point of a second-order phase transition. We review recent theoretical and empirical results supporting the notion that the brain is naturally poised near criticality, as well as its implications for better understanding of the brain.

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Figure 1: Neuronal avalanches are complex.
Figure 2: Large-scale emergent brain networks.
Figure 3: Complex networks derived from the brain fMRI data mimic those from the Ising model only at the critical temperature.

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Acknowledgements

D.R.C. is with the National Research and Technology Council (CONICET) of Argentina. This work was supported by CONICET and by NIH NINDS NS58661. Thanks to E. Tagliazucchi and F. Lebensohn-Chialvo for reading the manuscript.

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  1. Department of Physiology, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA, Los Angeles, California 90024, USA

    Dante R. Chialvo

  2. Facultad de Ciencias Medicas, Universidad Nacional de Rosario, Rosario 2000, Argentina

    Dante R. Chialvo

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Chialvo, D. Emergent complex neural dynamics. Nature Phys 6, 744–750 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys1803

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