Science Daily May 31, 2023
The classical and dominant paradigm in neuroscience is that neuronal dynamics are driven by interactions between discrete, functionally specialized cell populations connected by a complex array of axonal fibres. However, predictions from neural field theory, an established mathematical framework for modelling large-scale brain activity, suggest that the geometry of the brain may represent a more fundamental constraint on dynamics than complex interregional connectivity. An international team of researchers (Australia, the Netherlands) confirmed these theoretical predictions by analysing human magnetic resonance imaging data acquired under spontaneous and diverse task-evoked conditions.
They showed that cortical and subcortical activity can be parsimoniously understood as resulting from excitations of fundamental, resonant modes of the brain’s shape rather than from modes of complex interregional connectivity, as classically assumed. They used these geometric modes to show that task-evoked activations across over 10,000 brain maps are not confined to focal areas, as widely believed, but instead excite brain-wide modes with wavelengths spanning over 60 mm… read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Reconstruction of neocortical activity with geometric eigenmodes. Credit: Nature, 31 May 2023