Being critical of criticality in the brain

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Date
2012
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Frontiers Media S.A.
Abstract
Relatively recent work has reported that networks of neurons can produce avalanches of activity whose sizes follow a power law distribution. This suggests that these networks may be operating near a critical point, poised between a phase where activity rapidly dies out and a phase where activity is amplified over time. The hypothesis that the electrical activity of neural networks in the brain is critical is potentially important, as many simulations suggest that information processing functions would be optimized at the critical point. This hypothesis, however, is still controversial. Here we will explain the concept of criticality and review the substantial objections to the criticality hypothesis raised by skeptics. Points and counter points are presented in dialog form.
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Keywords
Avalanche, Criticality, Ising model, Multi-electrode array, Network, Scale-free, Statistical physics
Citation
Beggs, J. M., & Timme, N. (2012). Being critical of criticality in the brain. Frontiers in Physiology, 3 JUN, 163. http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2012.00163
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© 2012 Beggs and Timme. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial License, which permits non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in other forums, provided the original authors and source are credited.
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Article