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Mar 7, 2023

Brain Criticality — Optimizing Neural Computations

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience, robotics/AI

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My name is Artem, I’m a computational neuroscience student and researcher. In this video we talk about the concept of critical point – how the brain might optimize information processing by hovering near a phase transition.

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/artemkirsanov.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ArtemKRSV

OUTLINE:
00:00 Introduction.
01:11 — Phase transitions in nature.
05:05 — The Ising Model.
09:33 — Correlation length and long-range communication.
13:14 — Scale-free properties and power laws.
20:20 — Neuronal avalanches.
25:00 — The branching model.
31:05 — Optimizing information transmission.
34:06 — Brilliant.org.
35:41 — Recap and outro.

The book: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262544030/the-cortex-and-the-critical-point/

REFERENCES (in no particular order):
1. Zimmern, V. Why Brain Criticality Is Clinically Relevant: A Scoping Review. Front. Neural Circuits 14, 54 (2020).
2. Beggs, J. M. The criticality hypothesis: how local cortical networks might optimize information processing. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A. 366329–343 (2008).
3. Beggs, J. M. The cortex and the critical point: understanding the power of emergence. (The MIT Press, 2022).
4. Heffern, E. F. W., Huelskamp, H., Bahar, S. & Inglis, R. F. Phase transitions in biology: from bird flocks to population dynamics. Proc. R. Soc. B. 288, 20211111 (2021).
5. Beggs, J. M. & Plenz, D. Neuronal Avalanches in Neocortical Circuits. J. Neurosci. 23, 11167–11177 (2003).
6. Avramiea, A.-E., Masood, A., Mansvelder, H. D. & Linkenkaer-Hansen, K. Long-Range Amplitude Coupling Is Optimized for Brain Networks That Function at Criticality. J. Neurosci. 42, 2221–2233 (2022).
7. O’Byrne, J. & Jerbi, K. How critical is brain criticality? Trends in Neurosciences 45820–837 (2022).
8. Haldeman, C. & Beggs, J. M. Critical Branching Captures Activity in Living Neural Networks and Maximizes the Number of Metastable States. Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 058101 (2005).
9. Beggs, J. M. Being critical of criticality in the brain. Frontiers in Physiology.

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