Voltage imaging of waking mouse cortex reveals emergence of critical neuronal dynamics
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Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Complex cognitive processes require neuronal activity to be coordinated across multiple scales, ranging from local microcircuits to cortex-wide networks. However, multiscale cortical dynamics are not well understood because few experimental approaches have provided sufficient support for hypotheses involving multiscale interactions. To address these limitations, we used, in experiments involving mice, genetically encoded voltage indicator imaging, which measures cortex-wide electrical activity at high spatiotemporal resolution. Here we show that, as mice recovered from anesthesia, scale-invariant spatiotemporal patterns of neuronal activity gradually emerge. We show for the first time that this scale-invariant activity spans four orders of magnitude in awake mice. In contrast, we found that the cortical dynamics of anesthetized mice were not scale invariant. Our results bridge empirical evidence from disparate scales and support theoretical predictions that the awake cortex operates in a dynamical regime known as criticality. The criticality hypothesis predicts that small-scale cortical dynamics are governed by the same principles as those governing larger-scale dynamics. Importantly, these scale-invariant principles also optimize certain aspects of information processing. Our results suggest that during the emergence from anesthesia, criticality arises as information processing demands increase. We expect that, as measurement tools advance toward larger scales and greater resolution, the multiscale framework offered by criticality will continue to provide quantitative predictions and insight on how neurons, microcircuits, and large-scale networks are dynamically coordinated in the brain.
Date Issued
2014-12-10
Date Acceptance
2014-10-24
Citation
The Journal of Neuroscience, 2014, 34 (50), pp.16611-16620
ISSN
0270-6474
Publisher
Society for Neuroscience
Start Page
16611
End Page
16620
Journal / Book Title
The Journal of Neuroscience
Volume
34
Issue
50
Copyright Statement
Copyright © 2014 Scott et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium provided that the original work is properly attributed.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium provided that the original work is properly attributed.
License URL
Description
05.03.15 KB. Ok to add publlished version to spiral, OA paper
Identifier
http://www.jneurosci.org/content/34/50/16611.abstract
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
United States
Date Publish Online
2014-12-10