arXiv · nlin/0701020
Self-organising mechanism of neuronal avalanche activity
Abstract
A self-organising model is proposed to explain the criticality in cortical networks deduced from recent observations of neuronal avalanches. Prevailing understanding of self-organised criticality (SOC) dictates that conservation of energy is essential to its emergence. Neuronal networks however are inherently non-conservative as demonstrated by microelectrode recordings. The model presented here shows that SOC can arise in non-conservative systems as well, if driven internally. Evidence suggests that synaptic background activity provides the internal drive for non-conservative cortical networks to achieve and maintain a critical state. SOC is robust to any degree $η\in (0,1]$ of background activity when the network size $N$ is large enough such that $ηN\sim 10^3$. For small networks, a strong background leads to epileptiform activity, consistent with neurophysiological knowledge about epilepsy.
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Dranreb Earl Juanico. 2007-01-11. Self-organising mechanism of neuronal avalanche activity. https://arxiv.org/abs/nlin/0701020
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