Emergence of localized persistent weakly-evanescent cortical brain wave loops

Abstract

An inhomogeneous anisotropic physical model of the brain cortex is presented that predicts the emergence of non--evanescent (weakly damped) wave--like modes propagating in the thin cortex layers transverse to both the mean neural fiber direction and to the cortex spatial gradient. Although the amplitude of these modes stays below the typically observed axon spiking potential, the lifetime of these modes may significantly exceed the spiking potential inverse decay constant. Full brain numerical simulations based on parameters extracted from diffusion and structural MRI confirm the existence and extended duration of these wave modes. Contrary to the commonly agreed paradigm that the neural fibers determine the pathways for signal propagation in the brain, the signal propagation due to the cortex wave modes in the highly folded areas will exhibit no apparent correlation with the fiber directions. The results are consistent with numerous recent experimental animal and human brain studies demonstrating the existence electrostatic field activity in the form of traveling waves (including studies where neuronal connections were severed) and with wave loop induced peaks observed in EEG spectra. The localization and persistence of these cortical wave modes has significant implications in particular for neuroimaging methods that detect electromagnetic physiological activity, such as EEG and MEG, and for the understanding of brain activity in general, including mechanisms of memory.