Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 22, 2025
05:37
An R-Based Landscape Validation of a Competing Risk Model
Published on: September 16, 2022
2.3K
Critical behaviour of the stochastic Wilson-Cowan model
Antonio de Candia1,2, Alessandro Sarracino3, Ilenia Apicella1,2
1Dipartimento di Fisica "E. Pancini", Università di Napoli Federico II, Napoli, Italy.
Plos Computational Biology
|August 30, 2021
Summary
This study confirms critical brain activity dynamics in the Wilson-Cowan model. It demonstrates a genuine critical point with scale-free avalanche dynamics and specific exponents, supporting its universality class.
Area of Science:
- Computational Neuroscience
- Statistical Physics
- Complex Systems
Background:
- Spontaneous brain activity exhibits critical behavior, including avalanche dynamics.
- The Wilson-Cowan model is a key computational model for neural activity, but its relation to critical points is unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analytically and numerically investigate if the stochastic Wilson-Cowan model exhibits a genuine critical point.
- To characterize the critical behavior and its universality class.
Main Methods:
- Analytical results derived from linear approximation.
- Extensive numerical simulations of the Wilson-Cowan model.
- Analysis of avalanche size and duration distributions, and time correlation functions.
Main Results:
- Evidence supporting a bona fide critical point with a second-order-like phase transition.
- Scale-free avalanche dynamics that scale with system size, featuring a diverging relaxation time.
- Observed critical behavior aligns with the mean-field branching process universality class, with exponents 3/2 for size and 2 for duration.
Conclusions:
- The stochastic Wilson-Cowan model can exhibit genuine critical behavior.
- This critical behavior is characterized by specific scaling laws and falls within a known universality class.
- The findings provide a deeper understanding of neural avalanches and critical phenomena in the brain.
Related Concept Videos
01:13Parameters Affecting Nonlinear Elimination: Zero-Order Input, First-Order Absorption and Two-Compartment Model
149
Drugs administered through various routes can lead to nonlinear elimination, resulting in complex pharmacokinetic behaviors crucial to understanding efficacious drug dosing.
When a drug is administered through a constant intravenous infusion and eliminated via nonlinear pharmacokinetics, it follows zero-order input. For example, oral drugs undergo first-order absorption upon administration and are eliminated through nonlinear pharmacokinetics.
In the case of subcutaneously administered drugs,...
When a drug is administered through a constant intravenous infusion and eliminated via nonlinear pharmacokinetics, it follows zero-order input. For example, oral drugs undergo first-order absorption upon administration and are eliminated through nonlinear pharmacokinetics.
In the case of subcutaneously administered drugs,...
149
01:24BIBO stability of continuous and discrete -time systems
603
System stability is a fundamental concept in signal processing, often assessed using convolution. For a system to be considered bounded-input bounded-output (BIBO) stable, any bounded input signal must produce a bounded output signal. A bounded input signal is one where the modulus does not exceed a certain constant at any point in time.
To determine the BIBO stability, the convolution integral is utilized when a bounded continuous-time input is applied to a Linear Time-Invariant (LTI) system....
To determine the BIBO stability, the convolution integral is utilized when a bounded continuous-time input is applied to a Linear Time-Invariant (LTI) system....
603
01:17Wald-Wolfowitz Runs Test II
352
The Wald-Wolfowitz runs test, commonly referred to as the runs test, is a nonparametric test used to assess the randomness of ordered data. The test evaluates the number of runs, which are consecutive sequences of similar elements within the data. If the number of runs is significantly higher or lower than expected, the data is considered non-random, indicating a detectable pattern or structure.
For binary data, runs are identified using symbols such as + and −, or equivalently, 1s and...
For binary data, runs are identified using symbols such as + and −, or equivalently, 1s and...
352
00:56Noncompartmental Analysis: Statistical Moment Theory
210
Noncompartmental analyses leverage statistical moment theory to examine time-related changes in macroscopic events, encapsulating the collective outcomes stemming from the constituent elements in play. Statistical moment theory is a mathematical approach used to describe the time course of drug concentration in the body without assuming a specific compartmental model. SMT provides insights into drug absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination by treating drug concentration versus time...
210
01:31Alternative Sets of Equilibrium Equations
657
When analyzing the behavior of structures, engineers often rely on the concept of equilibrium. This refers to the state where all forces and moments acting on a system balance each other, resulting in no net movement or rotation. In many cases, equilibrium can be described by a set of standard equations. However, in some situations, alternative sets of equilibrium equations must be used to describe the system's behavior accurately.
One example of such a situation can be observed in a...
One example of such a situation can be observed in a...
657
01:24One-Compartment Open Model: Wagner-Nelson and Loo Riegelman Method for ka Estimation
812
This lesson introduces two critical methods in pharmacokinetics, the Wagner-Nelson and Loo-Riegelman methods, used for estimating the absorption rate constant (ka) for drugs administered via non-intravenous routes. The Wagner-Nelson method relates ka to the plasma concentration derived from the slope of a semilog percent unabsorbed time plot. However, it is limited to drugs with one-compartment kinetics and can be impacted by factors like gastrointestinal motility or enzymatic degradation.
On...
On...
812