Emergent complex neural dynamics

TL;DR

This paper reviews evidence that the brain operates near a critical point, which may explain its ability to produce diverse and flexible neural activity patterns essential for adaptive behavior.

Contribution

It synthesizes recent theoretical and empirical findings supporting the hypothesis that the brain functions near criticality, offering insights into neural dynamics and complex phenomena.

Findings

Evidence supports brain near criticality

Criticality explains neural diversity and flexibility

Implications for understanding brain function

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.