Modeling Phase Transitions in the Brain

Modeling Phase Transitions in the Brain PDF Author: D. Alistair Steyn-Ross
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1441907963
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 325

Book Description
Foreword by Walter J. Freeman. The induction of unconsciousness using anesthetic agents demonstrates that the cerebral cortex can operate in two very different behavioral modes: alert and responsive vs. unaware and quiescent. But the states of wakefulness and sleep are not single-neuron properties---they emerge as bulk properties of cooperating populations of neurons, with the switchover between states being similar to the physical change of phase observed when water freezes or ice melts. Some brain-state transitions, such as sleep cycling, anesthetic induction, epileptic seizure, are obvious and detected readily with a few EEG electrodes; others, such as the emergence of gamma rhythms during cognition, or the ultra-slow BOLD rhythms of relaxed free-association, are much more subtle. The unifying theme of this book is the notion that all of these bulk changes in brain behavior can be treated as phase transitions between distinct brain states. Modeling Phase Transitions in the Brain contains chapter contributions from leading researchers who apply state-space methods, network models, and biophysically-motivated continuum approaches to investigate a range of neuroscientifically relevant problems that include analysis of nonstationary EEG time-series; network topologies that limit epileptic spreading; saddle--node bifurcations for anesthesia, sleep-cycling, and the wake--sleep switch; prediction of dynamical and noise-induced spatiotemporal instabilities underlying BOLD, alpha-, and gamma-band Hopf oscillations, gap-junction-moderated Turing structures, and Hopf-Turing interactions leading to cortical waves.

Modeling Phase Transitions in the Brain

Modeling Phase Transitions in the Brain PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781441907974
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 336

Book Description


Cognitive Phase Transitions in the Cerebral Cortex - Enhancing the Neuron Doctrine by Modeling Neural Fields

Cognitive Phase Transitions in the Cerebral Cortex - Enhancing the Neuron Doctrine by Modeling Neural Fields PDF Author: Robert Kozma
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 331924406X
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 262

Book Description
This intriguing book was born out of the many discussions the authors had in the past 10 years about the role of scale-free structure and dynamics in producing intelligent behavior in brains. The microscopic dynamics of neural networks is well described by the prevailing paradigm based in a narrow interpretation of the neuron doctrine. This book broadens the doctrine by incorporating the dynamics of neural fields, as first revealed by modeling with differential equations (K-sets). The book broadens that approach by application of random graph theory (neuropercolation). The book concludes with diverse commentaries that exemplify the wide range of mathematical/conceptual approaches to neural fields. This book is intended for researchers, postdocs, and graduate students, who see the limitations of network theory and seek a beachhead from which to embark on mesoscopic and macroscopic neurodynamics.

Phase Transitions

Phase Transitions PDF Author: Moshe Gitterman
Publisher: World Scientific Publishing Company
ISBN: 9814520624
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 212

Book Description
This book provides a comprehensive review of the theory of phase transitions and its modern applications, based on the five pillars of the modern theory of phase transitions: the Ising model, mean field, scaling, renormalization group and universality. This expanded second edition includes, along with a description of vortices and high temperature superconductivity, a discussion of phase transitions in chemical reactions and moving systems. The book covers the close connection between phase transitions and small world phenomena as well as scale-free systems such as the stock market and the Internet.

Phase Transitions

Phase Transitions PDF Author: Ricard Solé
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400838924
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 237

Book Description
Phase transitions--changes between different states of organization in a complex system--have long helped to explain physics concepts, such as why water freezes into a solid or boils to become a gas. How might phase transitions shed light on important problems in biological and ecological complex systems? Exploring the origins and implications of sudden changes in nature and society, Phase Transitions examines different dynamical behaviors in a broad range of complex systems. Using a compelling set of examples, from gene networks and ant colonies to human language and the degradation of diverse ecosystems, the book illustrates the power of simple models to reveal how phase transitions occur. Introductory chapters provide the critical concepts and the simplest mathematical techniques required to study phase transitions. In a series of example-driven chapters, Ricard Solé shows how such concepts and techniques can be applied to the analysis and prediction of complex system behavior, including the origins of life, viral replication, epidemics, language evolution, and the emergence and breakdown of societies. Written at an undergraduate mathematical level, this book provides the essential theoretical tools and foundations required to develop basic models to explain collective phase transitions for a wide variety of ecosystems.

Validating Neuro-Computational Models of Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders

Validating Neuro-Computational Models of Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders PDF Author: Basabdatta Sen Bhattacharya
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319200372
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 315

Book Description
This book is a collection of articles by leading researchers working at the cutting edge of neuro-computational modelling of neurological and psychiatric disorders. Each article contains model validation techniques used in the context of the specific problem being studied. Validation is essential for neuro-inspired computational models to become useful tools in the understanding and treatment of disease conditions. Currently, the immense diversity in neuro-computational modelling approaches for investigating brain diseases has created the need for a structured and coordinated approach to benchmark and standardise validation methods and techniques in this field of research. This book serves as a step towards a systematic approach to validation of neuro-computational models used for studying brain diseases and should be useful for all neuro-computational modellers.

First Order Phase Transitions of Magnetic Materials

First Order Phase Transitions of Magnetic Materials PDF Author: Praveen Chaddah
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 149878626X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 174

Book Description
This book introduces new concepts in the phenomenon of 1st order phase transitions. It discusses the concept of kinetic arrest at a certain temperature, with this temperature being dependent on the second control variable (magnetic field, or pressure). It discusses interesting manifestations of this phenomenon when the 1st order transition is broadened, i.e. occurs over a finite range of temperatures. Many examples of this phenomenon, observed recently in many materials, will also be discussed.

Scale-free Dynamics and Critical Phenomena in Cortical Activity

Scale-free Dynamics and Critical Phenomena in Cortical Activity PDF Author: Biyu J. He
Publisher: Frontiers E-books
ISBN: 288919129X
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 126

Book Description
The brain is composed of many interconnected neurons that form a complex system, from which thought, behavior, and creativity emerge through self-organization. By studying the dynamics of this network, some basic motifs can be identified. Recent technological and computational advances have led to rapidly accumulating empirical evidence that spontaneous cortical activity exhibits scale-free and critical behavior. Multiple experiments have identified neural processes without a preferred timescale in the avalanche-like spatial propagation of activity in cortical slices and in self-similar time series of local field potentials. Even at the largest scale, scale-free behavior can be observed by looking at the power distributions of brain rhythms as observed by neuroimaging. These findings may indicate that brain dynamics are always close to critical states – a fact with important consequences for how brain accomplishes information transfer and processing. Capitalizing on analogies between the collective behavior of interacting particles in complex physical systems and interacting neurons in the cortex, concepts from non-equilibrium thermodynamics can help to understand how dynamics are organized. In particular, the concepts of phase transitions and self-organized criticality can be used to shed new light on how to interpret collective neuronal dynamics. Despite converging support for scale-free and critical dynamics in cortical activity, the implications for accompanying cognitive functions are still largely unclear. This Research Topic aims to facilitate the discussion between scientists from different backgrounds, ranging from theoretical physics, to computational neuroscience, brain imaging and neurophysiology. By stimulating interactions with the readers of Frontiers in Physiology, we hope to advance our understanding of the role of scale-freeness and criticality in organizing brain dynamics. What do these new perspectives tell us about the brain and to what extent are they relevant for our cognitive functioning? For this Research Topic, we therefore solicit reviews, original research articles, opinion and method papers, which address the principles that organize the dynamics of cortical activity. While focusing on work in the neurosciences, this Research Topic also welcomes theoretical contributions from physics or computational approaches.

Criticality as a signature of healthy neural systems: multi-scale experimental and computational studies

Criticality as a signature of healthy neural systems: multi-scale experimental and computational studies PDF Author: Paolo Massobrio
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
ISBN: 2889195031
Category : Nervous system
Languages : en
Pages : 140

Book Description
Since 2003, when spontaneous activity in cortical slices was first found to follow scale-free statistical distributions in size and duration, increasing experimental evidences and theoretical models have been reported in the literature supporting the emergence of evidence of scale invariance in the cortex. Although strongly debated, such results refer to many different in vitro and in vivo preparations (awake monkeys, anesthetized rats and cats, in vitro slices and dissociated cultures), suggesting that power law distributions and scale free correlations are a very general and robust feature of cortical activity that has been conserved across species as specific substrate for information storage, transmission and processing. Equally important is that the features reminiscent of scale invariance and criticality are observed at scale spanning from the level of interacting arrays of neurons all the way up to correlations across the entire brain. Thus, if we accept that the brain operates near a critical point, little is known about the causes and/or consequences of a loss of criticality and its relation with brain diseases (e.g. epilepsy). The study of how pathogenetical mechanisms are related to the critical/non-critical behavior of neuronal networks would likely provide new insights into the cellular and synaptic determinants of the emergence of critical-like dynamics and structures in neural systems. At the same time, the relation between the impaired behavior and the disruption of criticality would help clarify its role in normal brain function. The main objective of this Research Topic is to investigate the emergence/disruption of the emergent critical-like states in healthy/impaired neural systems.

Neural Networks

Neural Networks PDF Author: Arun V. Holden
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 9780719032790
Category : Brain
Languages : en
Pages : 264

Book Description