论文标题

大脑临界性的玩具模型:自组织的激发/抑制率和网络聚类的作用

A toy model for brain criticality: self-organized excitation/inhibition ratio and the role of network clustering

论文作者

Baumgarten, Lorenz, Bornholdt, Stefan

论文摘要

临界大脑假设从最近的实验结果获得了越来越多的支持。它假设大脑处于有序和混乱的状态之间的临界点,有时也称为“混乱的边缘”。神经科学的另一个中心观察是激发抑制平衡的原理:某些大脑网络在激发和抑制之间表现出明显恒定的比率。当这种平衡受到干扰时,网络会从临界点转移,例如在癫痫发作期间发生。但是,尚不清楚哪些机制平衡了对这种激发抑制比率的神经动力学,从而确保了关键的大脑动力学。在这里,我们介绍了一个简单但具有生物学上合理的玩具模型,该模型具有自组织的激发与抑制比例的自组织临界神经网络。该模型仅要求神经元具有其自身最新活动的局部信息,并相应地改变神经元之间的联系。我们发现,该网络演变成具有雪崩分布的特征的状态,遵循了典型的关键性标度定律,以及特定的激发与抑制率。该模型将大脑临界性的两个问题以及在大脑中观察到的特定激发/抑制平衡的问题连接到共同的起源或机制。从此类网络的统计力学的角度来看,该模型使用激发/抑制率作为相变的控制参数,这可以在任意高连接率下实现关键。我们发现,网络聚类对于此相变的发生起着至关重要的作用。

The critical brain hypothesis receives increasing support from recent experimental results. It postulates that the brain is at a critical point between an ordered and a chaotic regime, sometimes referred to as the "edge of chaos." Another central observation of neuroscience is the principle of excitation-inhibition balance: Certain brain networks exhibit a remarkably constant ratio between excitation and inhibition. When this balance is perturbed, the network shifts away from the critical point, as may for example happen during epileptic seizures. However, it is as of yet unclear what mechanisms balance the neural dynamics towards this excitation-inhibition ratio that ensures critical brain dynamics. Here we introduce a simple yet biologically plausible toy model of a self-organized critical neural network with a self-organizing excitation to inhibition ratio. The model only requires a neuron to have local information of its own recent activity and changes connections between neurons accordingly. We find that the network evolves to a state characterized by avalanche distributions following universal scaling laws typical of criticality, and to a specific excitation to inhibition ratio. The model connects the two questions of brain criticality and of a specific excitation/inhibition balance observed in the brain to a common origin or mechanism. From the perspective of the statistical mechanics of such networks, the model uses the excitation/inhibition ratio as control parameter of a phase transition, which enables criticality at arbitrary high connectivities. We find that network clustering plays a crucial role for this phase transition to occur.

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