Abstract:
Travelling waves of oscillatory activity have been observed across species, different states of consciousness and in a variety of different imaging modalities. They arise naturally in biophysical models of cortical activity but what is their role? Local and widespread oscillations play a variety of key roles, increasing the collective gain of neural populations so that they fire in synchrony to common perceptual features. But is there a function for the continuous movement of this activity in spatiotemporal patterns, crossing inter-areal boundaries that typically ensure functionally segregated behaviour? What proportion and types of cortical neurons participate in these ongoing waves? I will present the background to provoke discussion on this frontier topic.
