Abstract

Neural architectures that are operative in higher order cognition, including consciousness, memory, and motor planning, undergo complex changes in global organization during neurological disease. Increasingly, neurostimulation is therapeutically used for restoring these functions, although the mechanisms of restoration are largely unknown. Extant studies reveal, on the other hand, that non-linear and dynamical principles govern global brain organization, seen in operational features such as persistence, stability, flexibility and non-localization that are likely to be evoked by neurostimulation. These dynamical features are instantiated in neural oscillations, a key mechanism regulating brain function and communication. Due to stochastic influences, oscillator synchronization and desynchronization exhibit limit cycle attractor dynamics, which are characterized by persistent phase modulation rather than fixed point, stationary phase locking. Phase modulation governs information exchange by temporally gating transfer and guiding the trajectory of information distribution. Activation of attractor forces by modest input drive induces dynamic, phase difference detuning that results in phase preference shifts, whereas strong input drive induces low stability phase relations that promote oscillator dissociation and new pair formation. These dynamical features of oscillator behavior are likely to facilitate information transfer to neural networks during neurostimulation of higher order functions.

Highlights

  • Neural architectures that are operative in higher order cognition, like consciousness, memory, and motor planning, undergo complex changes in global organization during neurological disease

  • Beyond the dynamic features instantiated in these mechanisms it will be necessary to account for how dynamical principles underpin functionally relevant activity

  • For instance, that oscillatory synchronization functions to direct communication within the brain; how dynamical principles govern the directing of information transfer will need to be accounted for in restoring the functional features of cognition

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Summary

Introduction

Neural architectures that are operative in higher order cognition, like consciousness, memory, and motor planning, undergo complex changes in global organization during neurological disease. One study [20] that entrained a local neuron population with a 40 Hz train of pulses showed that both the neural population response and animal behavior depended on the phase at which the stimulus arrived at the population While these studies illustrate effects introduced by stimulation, a number of concerns become apparent with these regimes due to the dynamic nature of brain activity. Beyond the dynamic features instantiated in these mechanisms it will be necessary to account for how dynamical principles underpin functionally relevant activity It is posited, for instance, that oscillatory synchronization functions to direct communication within the brain; how dynamical principles govern the directing of information transfer will need to be accounted for in restoring the functional features of cognition. This paper will explore how modulatory input can influence the dynamical properties of oscillator interactions that govern information exchange and computational flexibility

Dynamical principles governing neural organization
Dynamic features of neural oscillators
Information capture in attractors
Information capture in oscillator attractors
Conclusion
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