Brain-wide spontaneous neural avalanches: Definition, functional dynamics and cognitive relevance

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Science
• Complex Systems

Background:

• Spontaneous brain activity is widespread but its function and cognitive links are unclear.
• Existing neuronal avalanche models have limitations in capturing spatial-temporal dynamics and individual criticality.
• Macroscale neuroimaging methods like fMRI have limited recording durations, complicating analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a novel framework for analyzing large-scale neural avalanches.
• To investigate the functional dynamics, network propagation, and cognitive relevance of these avalanches.
• To explore the relationship between brain criticality and cognitive abilities.

Main Methods:

• Defined large-scale neural avalanches as single, spatially consecutive cascade patterns.
• Applied this new definition to analyze functional dynamics and network propagation.
• Examined the association between avalanche properties, brain criticality, and cognitive performance using whole-brain neuroimaging data.

Main Results:

• The proposed method improved power-law fitting for avalanche size and duration distributions at the individual level.
• Brain activity closer to the critical point was associated with enhanced cognitive abilities.
• The ratio of sensory-to-association network avalanches and the distance between task-evoked and spontaneous activity representations correlated with cognitive performance.

Conclusions:

• The novel approach offers a more robust method for measuring avalanche criticality from human neuroimaging.
• Spontaneous neural avalanches and their low-dimensional representations are integral to human cognitive functions.
• Brain criticality serves as a potential biomarker for cognitive abilities.