The Refractory Period Matters: Unifying Mechanisms of Macroscopic Brain Waves

Corey Weistuch; Lilianne R Mujica-Parodi; Ken Dill

doi:10.1162/neco_a_01371

The Refractory Period Matters: Unifying Mechanisms of Macroscopic Brain Waves

Neural Comput. 2021 Apr 13;33(5):1145-1163. doi: 10.1162/neco_a_01371.

Authors

Corey Weistuch¹, Lilianne R Mujica-Parodi², Ken Dill³

Affiliations

¹ Laufer Center for Physical and Quantitative Biology and Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, U.S.A. corey.weistuch@stonybrook.edu.
² Laufer Center for Physical and Quantitative Biology, Departments of Biomedical Engineering and of Physics and Astronomy, Program in Neuroscience, and Department of Chemistry, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, U.S.A., and Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02129, U.S.A. lilianne.strey@stonybrook.edu.
³ Laufer Center for Physical and Quantitative Biology, Department of Physics and Astronomy, and Department of Chemistry, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, U.S.A. dill@laufercenter.org.

PMID: 33617741
DOI: 10.1162/neco_a_01371

Abstract

The relationship between complex brain oscillations and the dynamics of individual neurons is poorly understood. Here we utilize maximum caliber, a dynamical inference principle, to build a minimal yet general model of the collective (mean field) dynamics of large populations of neurons. In agreement with previous experimental observations, we describe a simple, testable mechanism, involving only a single type of neuron, by which many of these complex oscillatory patterns may emerge. Our model predicts that the refractory period of neurons, which has often been neglected, is essential for these behaviors.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Brain
Brain Waves*
Models, Neurological*
Neurons