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Updated: Dec 12, 2025
16:01
Multi-electrode Array Recordings of Neuronal Avalanches in Organotypic Cultures
Published on: August 1, 2011
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Time-dependent branching processes: a model of oscillating neuronal avalanches
Johannes Pausch1,2, Rosalba Garcia-Millan3, Gunnar Pruessner3
1Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics and St. Catharine's College, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB3 0WA, UK. jp634@cam.ac.uk.
Scientific Reports
|August 15, 2020
Summary
This study introduces a new model for neuronal avalanches by incorporating oscillating extinction rates into branching processes. This approach captures the complex interplay between scale-free dynamics and time-dependent oscillations observed in cortical activity.
Area of Science:
- Computational Neuroscience
- Theoretical Physics
- Complex Systems
Background:
- Neuronal avalanches exhibit oscillations, a combination of scale-free criticality and time-dependent dynamics.
- Standard branching process models for neuronal activity lack time-dependent rates.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a novel model for cortical dynamics that incorporates time-varying extinction rates.
- To explain the coexistence of scale-free and scale-dependent dynamics in neuronal avalanches.
Main Methods:
- Extension of a basic continuous-time branching process by introducing an oscillating extinction rate.
- Application of perturbative field theory to derive key observables.
- Quantitative and qualitative comparisons with numerical simulations and experimental data.
Main Results:
- Derivation of relevant observables in closed form using perturbative field theory.
- The proposed model successfully captures the dynamics of oscillating neuronal avalanches.
- Model predictions show good agreement with numerical and experimental findings.
Conclusions:
- Oscillating extinction rates provide a viable mechanism for generating neuronal avalanches with both scale-free and scale-dependent properties.
- The developed theoretical framework offers new insights into the complex dynamics of cortical activity.
- This model serves as a valuable tool for understanding brain function near criticality.
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