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From Neurons to Networks: Critical Slowing Down Governs Information Processing Across Vigilance States

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The Functional Role of Critical Dynamics in Neural Systems

Part of the book series: Springer Series on Bio- and Neurosystems ((SSBN,volume 11))

Abstract

The general idea that computational capabilities are maximized at or nearby critical states related to phase transitions or bifurcations led to the hypothesis that neural systems in the brain operate at or close to a critical state. Near phase transitions, a system is expected to recover more slowly from small perturbations, a phenomenon called critical slowing down. In this chapter we will review and discuss recent studies that have identified critical slowing down as a pervasive feature in neural system functioning and information processing across different spatial scales from individual neurons to cortical networks. First, we will provide an easily accessible introduction into the theory of critical slowing down with an emphasis on its scaling laws. Second, we will review experimental work using the whole-cell patch clamp technique demonstrating how critical slowing down governs the onset of spiking in individual neurons. The associated scaling laws identify a saddle-node bifurcation underlying the transition to spiking in pyramidal neurons and fast-spiking interneurons. We will discuss implications for the integration of synaptic inputs and neuronal information processing in general. Third, we will review evidence for the existence of critical slowing down at the cortical network level. Recent studies in rodents and humans conclusively show that cortex is goverend by long dynamical timescales expected from critical slowing down that support temporal information integration but change as a function of vigilance state and time awake. The results provide novel mechanistic and functional links between behavioural manifestations of sleep, waking and sleep deprivation, and specific measurable changes in the network dynamics relevant for characterizing the brain’s changing ability to integrate and process information over time and across vigilance states.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University Clinic Carl Gustav Carus, Dresden, Germany

    Christian Meisel

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  1. Christian Meisel
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Correspondence to Christian Meisel .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany

    Nergis Tomen

  2. Institute of Perception, Action and Behaviour, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

    J. Michael Herrmann

  3. Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany

    Udo Ernst

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Meisel, C. (2019). From Neurons to Networks: Critical Slowing Down Governs Information Processing Across Vigilance States. In: Tomen, N., Herrmann, J., Ernst, U. (eds) The Functional Role of Critical Dynamics in Neural Systems . Springer Series on Bio- and Neurosystems, vol 11. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20965-0_4

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