Criticality, stability, competition, and consolidation of new representations in brain networks

TL;DR

This paper investigates how brain networks form and stabilize new memory representations, highlighting the importance of criticality—a phase-transition in neural activity—for effective consolidation amidst competition.

Contribution

It demonstrates through analytical, computational, and experimental methods that near-critical neural dynamics are essential for stabilizing new representations in brain networks.

Findings

Near-critical dynamics are necessary for stabilizing new memories.

Criticality facilitates the competition and consolidation of new representations.

Neural systems near phase-transition support memory formation under resource competition.

Abstract

The brain forms and stores distributed representations from sparse external input that compete for neuronal resources with already stored memory traces. It is unclear what dynamical properties of neural systems allow formation and subsequent consolidation of new, distributed memory representations under these conditions. Here we use analytical, computational, and experimental approaches to show that a dynamical regime near a phase-transition in neuronal network activity (i.e. criticality) may play an important role in this process. Our results reveal that near-critical dynamics are necessary to stabilize and store new sparsely driven representations when they compete with native network states.