Chimera states and information transfer in interacting populations of map-based neurons

TL;DR

This paper explores how chimera states in interacting neuron populations facilitate directional information transfer, providing insights into brain processes like sleep and seizures.

Contribution

It characterizes synchronization states and reveals the directionality of information flow in chimera states in map-based neural systems.

Findings

Chimera states exhibit a clear information flow from desynchronized to synchronized populations.

The incoherent population drives the synchronized one regardless of population size.

The study links chimera states to brain phenomena such as sleep and seizures.

Abstract

We investigate the synchronization behavior and the emergence of chimera states in a system of two interacting populations of maps possessing chaotic neural-like dynamics. We characterize four collective states on the space of coupling parameters of the system: complete synchronization, generalized synchronization, chimera states, and incoherence. We quantify the information exchange between the two neuron populations in chimera states. We have found a well-defined direction of the flow of information in chimera states, from the desynchronized population to the synchronized one. The incoherent population functions as a driver of the coherent neuron population in a chimera state. This feature is independent of the population sizes or population partitions. Our results yield insight into the communication mechanisms arising in brain processes such as unihemispheric sleep and epileptic seizures that have been associated to chimera states.