The role of chaos in neural systems

The ideas of dynamical chaos have altered our understanding of the origin of random appearing behavior in many fields of physics and engineering. In the 1980s and 1990s these new viewpoints about apparent random oscillations arising in deterministic systems were investigated in neurophysiology and have led to quite successful reports of chaos in experimental and theoretical investigations. This paper is a "view" paper addressing the role of chaos in living systems, not just reviewing the evidence for its existence, and in particular we ask about the utility of chaotic behavior in nervous systems. From our point of view chaotic oscillations of individual neurons may not be essential for the observed activity of neuronal assemblies but may, instead, be responsible for the multitude of regular regimes of operation that can be accomplished by elements which are chaotic. The organization of chaotic elements in assemblies where their synchronization can result in organized adaptive and reliable activities may lead to general principles used by nature in accomplishing critical functional goals.