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Transitions without change: How the perceived nature of shifts in neural field activity may be due to viewer perspective
Author(s) -
Ohayon Elan Liss,
Burnham W McIntyre,
Kwan Hon C,
Sejnowski Terrence J,
Bazhenov Maxim
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.22.2_supplement.99
Subject(s) - perspective (graphical) , dynamics (music) , neural activity , statistical physics , biological system , field (mathematics) , population , noise (video) , network dynamics , artificial neural network , neuroscience , physics , local field potential , computer science , psychology , artificial intelligence , mathematics , biology , acoustics , sociology , pure mathematics , image (mathematics) , demography , discrete mathematics
OBJECTIVE: An important goal of experimental and clinical neural field recordings is the identification of mechanisms that underlie transitions in persistent activity. Here we model such activity in order to identify the fundamental factors that may trigger transitions in dynamics. METHODS: We simulated laminar networks of spiking neurons with up to 10,000 inhibitory and excitatory units and varying degrees of connectivity. RESULTS: Activity in networks with heterogeneous connectivity showed various patterns of persistent activity including propagating waves. When activity was averaged over the population to simulate field recordings the dynamics showed ongoing changes in both amplitude and spectral properties. These perceived changes were present despite the absence of alteration to the intrinsic properties of the units or network structure. CONCLUSIONS: The observation that perceived shifts in spectral properties can be the simple result of averaging spatial propagation may have important implications for the interpretation of field recordings. It is often assumed that transitions in dynamics are due to (a) shifts in neural properties (b) changes to network structure (c) external input or (d) noise. The observation that intermittent transitions can take place in the absence of such factors suggests that we must look beyond these assumptions and on to the spatio‐temporal features of neural dynamics.