Criticality in Neural Systems

Leading authorities in the field review current experimental and theoretical knowledge on
criticality and brain function.

The book begins by summarizing experimental evidence for criticality and self-organized
criticality in the brain. Subsequently, important breakthroughs in modeling of critical neuronal circuits and how to establish self-organized criticality in the brain are described.

A milestone publication, defining upcoming directions of research in this new fi eld and set to become the primary source of information on the brain and criticality.

Neurowissenschaftler suchen nach Antworten auf die Fragen, wie wir lernen und Information speichern, welche Prozesse im Gehirn verantwortlich sind und in welchem Zeitrahmen diese ablaufen. Die Konzepte, die aus der Physik kommen und weiterentwickelt werden, können in Medizin und Soziologie, aber auch in Robotik und Bildanalyse Anwendung finden.
Zentrales Thema dieses Buches sind die sogenannten kritischen Phänomene im Gehirn. Diese werden mithilfe mathematischer und physikalischer Modelle beschrieben, mit denen man auch Erdbeben, Waldbrände oder die Ausbreitung von Epidemien modellieren kann. Neuere Erkenntnisse haben ergeben, dass diese selbstgeordneten Instabilitäten auch im Nervensystem auftreten.
Dieses Referenzwerk stellt theoretische und experimentelle Befunde internationaler Gehirnforschung vor zeichnet die Perspektiven dieses neuen Forschungsfeldes auf.
Neuronal Avalanches in Cortical Networks
Dietmar Plenz

The Dynamic Brain in Action: Coordinative Structures,
Criticality and Coordination Dynamics
J. A. Scott Kelso

Critical Brain Dynamics at Large Scale
Dante R Chialvo

The Correlation of the Neuronal Long-range Temporal Correlations, Avalanche Dynamics with the Behavioral Scaling Laws and Interindividual Variability
J. Matias Palva and Satu Palva

The Turbulent Human Brain
Arnold. J. Mandell, Stephen E. Robinson, Karen A. Selz, Constance Schrader, Tom Holroyd and Richard Coppola

Thermodynamic Model of Criticality in the Cortex Based on EEG/ECoG Data
Robert Kozma, Marko Puljic and Walter J. Freeman

Neuronal Avalanches in the Human Brain
Oren Shriki and Dietmar Plenz

Critical Slowing and Perception
Karl Friston, Michael Breakspear and Gustavo Deco

Self-organized Criticality in Neural Network Models
Matthias Rybarsch and Stefan Bornholdt

Single Neuron Response Fluctuations: A Self-organized Criticality Point of View
Asaf Gal and Shimon Marom

Activity Dependent Model for Neuronal Avalanches
Lucilla de Arcangelis and Hans J. Herrmann

The Neuronal Network Oscillation as a Critical Phenomenon
Richard Hardstone, Huibert D. Mansvelder, Klaus Linkenkaer-Hansen

Critical Exponents, Universality Class & Thermodynamic: The "Temperature" Of the Brain
Shan Yu, Hongdian Yang, Oren Shriki and Dietmar Plenz

Peak Variability and Optimal Performance in Cortical Networks at Criticality
Hongdian Yang, Woodrow L. Shew, Rajarshy Roy, and Dietmar Plenz

Criticality At Work: How Do Critical Networks Respond to Stimuli?
Mauro Copelli

Critical Dynamics in Complex Networks
Daniel B. Larremore, Woodrow L. Shew, Juan G. Restrepo

Mechanisms of Self-organized Criticality in Adaptive Networks
Thilo Gross, Anne-Ly Do, Felix Droste, and Christian Meisel

Cortical Networks with Lognormal Synaptic Connectivity and their Implications in Neuronal Avalanches
Tomoki Fukai, Vladimir Klinshov and Jun-nosuke Teramae

Jump Right In: Transitions to Criticality in Neural Systems with Dynamic Synapses
Anna Levina, J. Michael Herrmann, Theo Geisel

Non-conservative Neuronal Networks During Up states Self-organize Near Critical Points
Stefan Mihalas, Daniel Millman, Ramakrishnan Iyer, Alfredo Kirkwood and Ernst Niebur

Self-organized Criticality and Near Criticality in Neural Networks
J. D. Cowan, J. Neuman, and W. van Drongelen

Neural Dynamics: Criticality, Cooperation, Avalanches and Entrainment between Complex Networks
P. Grigolini, M. Zare, A. Svenkeson, B. J. West

Complex Networks: From Social Crises to Neuronal Avalanches
B. J. West, M. Turalska and P. Grigolini

The Dynamics of Neuromodulation
Gerhard Werner and Bernhard J. Mitterauer
DIETMAR PLENZ is Chief of the Section on Critical Brain Dynamics in the Intramural Research Program at the National Institute of Mental Health. He received his Ph.D. in 1993 at the Max-Planck Institute of Biological Cybernetics and the University Tuebingen. Dr. Plenz joined the NIMH as an Investigator in 1999. He pioneered the development of in vitro networks to study and identify the emergence of neuronal avalanches in the brain.

ERNST NIEBUR is Professor of Neuroscience and of Brain and Psychological Sciences at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, USA. He holds degrees in Physics from the Universities of Dortmund, Germany and Lausanne, Switzerland, and a postgraduate certificate in Artificial Intelligence from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL). Prof. Niebur has authored more than 100 scientific articles in physics and computational neuroscience.

HEINZ GEORG SCHUSTER is Professor (em.) of Theoretical Physics at the University of Kiel in Germany. At the beginning of his academic career, he was appointed Professor at the University of Frankfurt am Main in Germany. He was a visiting professor at the Weizmann-Institute of Science in Israel and at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, USA. He is author and editor of research monographs and topical handbooks on chaos theory, nonlinear dynamics and neural networks, but also on popular science books, and editor of a Wiley series on Nonlinear Physics and Complexity.

Leading authorities in the field review current experimental and theoretical knowledge on criticality and brain function.

The book begins by summarizing experimental evidence for criticality and self-organized criticality in the brain. Subsequently, important breakthroughs in modeling of critical neuronal circuits and how to establish self-organized criticality in the brain are described.

A milestone publication, defining upcoming directions of research in this new field and set to become the primary source of information on the brain and criticality.

From the contents:

• Neuronal Avalanches in Cortical Networks
• Criticality and Coordination Dynamics of the Brain in Action
• Critical Brain Dynamics at Large Scale
• Temporal Long-range Correlations, Neuronal Avalanches, and Behavioral Scaling Laws
• The Turbulent Human Brain
• Thermodynamic Model of Criticality in the Cortex
• Neuronal Avalanches in the Human Brain
• Critical Slowing and Perception
• Self-organized Criticality in Neural Network Models
• Single Neuron Response Fluctuations
• Activity Dependent Model for Neuronal Avalanches
• The Neuronal Network Oscillation as a Critical Phenomenon
• Critical Exponents, Universality Class, and Thermodynamics
• Peak Variability and Optimal Performance
• Criticality at Work: How do Critical Networks Respond to Stimuli?
• Critical Dynamics in Complex Networks
• Mechanisms of Self-organized Criticality in Adaptive Networks
• Cortical Networks with Lognormal Synaptic Connectivity
• Transitions to Criticality in Neural Systems with Dynamical Synapses
• Non-conservative Critical Networks with Up and Down States
• Self-organized Criticality and Near Criticality in Neural Networks
• Neural Dynamics: Criticality, Cooperation, and Avalanches
• Complex Networks: From Social Crises to Neuronal Avalanches
• The Dynamics of Neuromodulation