A general framework for dynamic cortical function: the function-through-biased-oscillations (FBO) hypothesis

A central goal of neuroscience is to determine how the brain's relatively static anatomy can support dynamic cortical function, i.e., cortical function that varies according to task demands. In pursuit of this goal, scientists have produced a large number of experimental results and established influential conceptual frameworks, in particular communication-through-coherence (CTC) and gating-by-inhibition (GBI), but these data and frameworks have not provided a parsimonious view of the principles that underlie cortical function. Here I synthesize these existing experimental results and the CTC and GBI frameworks, and propose the function-through-biased-oscillations (FBO) hypothesis as a model to understand dynamic cortical function. The FBO hypothesis suggests that oscillatory voltage amplitude is the principal measurement that directly reflects cortical excitability, that asymmetries in voltage amplitude explain a range of brain signal phenomena, and that predictive variations in such asymmetric oscillations provide a simple and general model for information routing that can help to explain dynamic cortical function.