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Playing at the Edge of Criticality: Expanded Whole-Brain Repertoire of Connectome-Harmonics

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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

In order for us to survive, our behaviour has to be perched somewhere between stability and flexibility, or between exploitation and exploration of available resources. This requires the underlying spatiotemporal brain dynamics to be delicately balanced between order and disorder, drawing upon a large repertoire of available brain states. Beyond survival, in order to thrive the brain has to be sufficiently flexible to be able to seek novel trajectories and expand the dynamical repertoire. Here we propose that a key ingredient could be play, the active exploration of novelty beyond exploiting existing potentially scarce resources. Using a novel analysis method called ‘connectome harmonics’ we not only demonstrate that brain activity resides close to criticality—at the delicate balance between order (stability) and disorder (flexibility)—but this whole-brain criticality is also intrinsically linked to oscillatory brain dynamics. We show that compared to wakefulness, other conscious states are related to different connectome-harmonic repertoires and differ in their proximity to criticality, where the critical regime may enhance the ability to flexibly seek new brain states. In particular, we propose that these brain dynamics may underlie the creative process found in play and improvisation, and as such may shed new light on discovering how the brain optimizes the balance between exploitation and exploration needed for behavioural flexibility.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Selen Atasoy & Morten L. Kringelbach

  2. Center for Music in the Brain, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

    Selen Atasoy & Morten L. Kringelbach

  3. Center of Brain and Cognition, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain

    Gustavo Deco

  4. ICREA, Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avancats (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain

    Gustavo Deco

  5. Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany

    Gustavo Deco

  6. School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

    Gustavo Deco

Authors
  1. Selen Atasoy
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  2. Gustavo Deco
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  3. Morten L. Kringelbach
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Selen Atasoy .

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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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Atasoy, S., Deco, G., Kringelbach, M.L. (2019). Playing at the Edge of Criticality: Expanded Whole-Brain Repertoire of Connectome-Harmonics. 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_2

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