The Cortex And The Critical Point
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The Cortex and the Critical Point
How the cerebral cortex operates near a critical phase transition point for optimum performance. Individual neurons have limited computational powers, but when they work together, it is almost like magic. Firing synchronously and then breaking off to improvise by themselves, they can be paradoxically both independent and interdependent. This happens near the critical point: when neurons are poised between a phase where activity is damped and a phase where it is amplified, where information processing is optimized, and complex emergent activity patterns arise. The claim that neurons in the cortex work best when they operate near the critical point is known as the criticality hypothesis. In this book John Beggs—one of the pioneers of this hypothesis—offers an introduction to the critical point and its relevance to the brain. Drawing on recent experimental evidence, Beggs first explains the main ideas underlying the criticality hypotheses and emergent phenomena. He then discusses the critical point and its two main consequences—first, scale-free properties that confer optimum information processing; and second, universality, or the idea that complex emergent phenomena, like that seen near the critical point, can be explained by relatively simple models that are applicable across species and scale. Finally, Beggs considers future directions for the field, including research on homeostatic regulation, quasicriticality, and the expansion of the cortex and intelligence. An appendix provides technical material; many chapters include exercises that use freely available code and data sets.
The Cortex and the Critical Point
How the cerebral cortex operates near a critical phase transition point for optimum performance. Individual neurons have limited computational powers, but when they work together, it is almost like magic. Firing synchronously and then breaking off to improvise by themselves, they can be paradoxically both independent and interdependent. This happens near the critical point: when neurons are poised between a phase where activity is damped and a phase where it is amplified, where information processing is optimized, and complex emergent activity patterns arise. The claim that neurons in the cortex work best when they operate near the critical point is known as the criticality hypothesis. In this book John Beggs—one of the pioneers of this hypothesis—offers an introduction to the critical point and its relevance to the brain. Drawing on recent experimental evidence, Beggs first explains the main ideas underlying the criticality hypotheses and emergent phenomena. He then discusses the critical point and its two main consequences—first, scale-free properties that confer optimum information processing; and second, universality, or the idea that complex emergent phenomena, like that seen near the critical point, can be explained by relatively simple models that are applicable across species and scale. Finally, Beggs considers future directions for the field, including research on homeostatic regulation, quasicriticality, and the expansion of the cortex and intelligence. An appendix provides technical material; many chapters include exercises that use freely available code and data sets.
Elusive Cures
Author: Nicole Rust
language: en
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Release Date: 2025-06-10
"Neuroscience has made massive progress in the last thirty years-we've seen multiple forms of technology revolutionize the field, and we've invested tremendous resources to pursue brain research globally. Though we've learned much about the brain through these efforts, we have struggled to translate what we are learning to treatments for mental illness. Tragically, we cannot cure-or in some cases reliably treat-most brain disorders, including Alzheimer's, Huntington's, Parkinson's, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, depression, schizophrenia, and so many more. Why have we struggled so much to translate the exploding number of discoveries that are happening at the research bench to the bedside? How can we better understand and treat brain and mental illness? In this book, Nicole Rust tackles these difficult questions, making a bold argument for how the field of neuroscience needs to change in order to make meaningful progress on understanding and treating brain dysfunction. In short, her argument is that neuroscientists must adapt to thinking about the brain as a complex system. To date, we have collectively thought about the brain more as a domino chain of cause-and-effect - for instance, if we assume that a chemical imbalance causes depression, we assume that once we fix that imbalance, we will fix depression. But as Rust shows, the brain is much more complex than a domino chain, operating via feedback loops that are more difficult to understand and predict. In Part I, Rust examines the people and the science behind the brain drugs that are prescribed today, setting up her argument that the field must change in order to progress; she shows that most of our current treatments - for depression, psychosis, and other disorders -- were developed serendipitously. In fact, most of the drugs that we use today were created in the 50s, before we understood anything at all about how the brain works. In Parts 2 and 3, Rust presents her argument for how the field can advance: by treating the brain as a complex system. In highly accessible language and drawing on the history of complex systems in other scientific fields, as well as cutting edge work in translational neuroscience today, she shows how some researchers are already pushing towards the idea of the brain as a complex system - and argues that only once we fully embrace this idea do we have any hope of curing the brain in dysfunction. The book is a fascinating window into the immense challenge of understanding the brain - the most complex thing humankind has ever encountered - and how we can change course to make more and better progress towards mental health"--