The cortex and the critical point : : understanding the power of emergence / / John M. Beggs.

• Superior document: The MIT Press
• VerfasserIn: Beggs, John M.,
• Place / Publishing House: Cambridge, Massachusetts : : The MIT Press,, [2022]
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Series: The MIT Press
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (217 pages)

"A survey of the criticality hypothesis which imports theory from physics to understand the brain and could be a grand unifying theory of the brain at a time when neuroscience is dominated by data"-- Provided by publisher.

Table of Contents

Intro -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- The Critical Point in Context -- The Goals and Structure of This Book -- I. Background -- 1. The Main Idea -- A Simple Model -- Optimal Information Processing -- The Appearance of Emergent Phenomena -- Power Laws -- Avalanches -- A Phase Transition -- From a Model to Data -- The Criticality Hypothesis -- Objections and Responses to the Criticality Hypothesis -- Chapter Summary -- 2. Emergent Phenomena -- Methodological Reductionism -- The Wave as an Emergent Phenomenon -- Emergent Phenomena in the Brain -- A Simple Model of Emergent Phenomena in the Brain -- Complex Emergent Phenomena Occur at a Phase Transition -- More Complex Emergent Phenomena? -- How to Study Emergent Phenomena -- Chapter Summary -- II. The Critical Point and Its Consequences -- 3. The Critical Point -- The Branching Model: A Branching Ratio Near 1 -- The Branching Model: A Phase Transition with Control and Order Parameters -- The Branching Model: An Exponent Relation between Multiple Power Laws -- The Branching Model: Fractal Copies of Avalanches -- Signatures of Being near the Critical Point -- Signatures of the Critical Point from the Data -- In Vitro Experiments -- Data: A Branching Ratio near 1 -- Data: A Phase Transition with Control and Order Parameters -- Data: An Exponent Relation between Multiple Power Laws -- Data: Fractal Copies of Avalanches -- Objections to These Signatures of Criticality -- Chapter Summary -- 4. Optimality -- The Branching Model: Information Transmission -- The Branching Model: Dynamic Range -- The Branching Model: Susceptibility -- Data: Dynamic Range -- Data: Information Transmission -- Data: Susceptibility -- Other Predictions Yet to Be Tested -- Chapter Summary -- 5. Universality -- Universality in Physical Systems -- Universality in the Cortex: Indicators.

Indicators Seen across Species -- Indicators Seen across Scales -- Described by a Simple Model -- Chapter Summary -- III. Future Directions -- 6. Homeostasis and Health -- Homeostasis toward the Critical Point after a Major Perturbation -- Sleep and Homeostasis toward the Critical Point -- Sensory Adaptation toward the Critical Point -- Development toward the Critical Point -- Themes from Homeostasis Results -- Health -- Chapter Summary -- 7. Quasicriticality -- Universality: Unfinished Issues -- A Possible Solution: Quasicriticality -- Another View: Slightly Subcritical -- Another View: Subsampling -- Another View: Griffiths Phase -- Chapter Summary -- 8. Cortex -- The Expansion of Cortical Area -- Associations of Associations -- The Special Role of Layers 2 and 3 -- Multifunctionality and the Critical Point -- Nearly Critical in Layers 2 and 3, but Not in Layer 5 -- Staying Nearly Critical While Learning -- Timescales throughout the Hierarchy -- Chapter Summary -- 9. Epilogue -- What We Know -- What We Don't Know -- Frontier Issues -- What I Did Not Cover -- Appendix -- Relation between Power-Law Exponent and Slope (Chapters 1 and 6) -- When the Average Value of a Power Law Diverges and When It Does Not (Chapters 1 and 6) -- Long-Range Temporal Correlations (Chapters 1, 6, and 8) -- Informal Derivation of the Exponent Relation (Chapters 3, 5, 6, 7, and 8) -- Avalanche Shape Collapse (Chapters 3, 5, 6, and 8) -- How to Quantify Network Dynamics (Chapters 4 and 8) -- Software and Data for Exercises and Analyses -- Notes -- Chapter 1 -- Chapter 2 -- Chapter 3 -- Chapter 4 -- Chapter 5 -- Chapter 6 -- Chapter 7 -- Chapter 8 -- References -- Index.