Phase-Amplitude Coupling in Neuronal Oscillator Networks

TL;DR

This paper models how phase-amplitude coupling (PAC) arises in neural networks and shows how low-frequency phase synchrony can coordinate high-frequency activity and influence information flow across brain regions.

Contribution

It introduces a model explaining PAC emergence in brain architectures and demonstrates how low-frequency synchrony controls high-frequency activity and inter-regional communication.

Findings

PAC can emerge from external low-frequency inputs or local oscillation interactions.

Low-frequency phase synchrony can coordinate high-frequency activities.

Synchrony influences the direction of information flow across brain regions.

Abstract

Phase-amplitude coupling (PAC) describes the phenomenon where the power of a high-frequency oscillation evolves with the phase of a low-frequency one. We propose a model that explains the emergence of PAC in two commonly-accepted architectures in the brain, namely, a high-frequency neural oscillation driven by an external low-frequency input and two interacting local oscillations with distinct, locally-generated frequencies. We further propose an interconnection structure for brain regions and demonstrate that low-frequency phase synchrony can integrate high-frequency activities regulated by local PAC and control the direction of information flow across distant regions.