Exploring stochasticity in the spatio-temporal patterns of coordinated brain activity

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The development of new methods and theoretical frameworks to understand brain function at behaviourally relevant time scales is one of the most challenging frontiers in neuroscience research. The complexity of these problems needs a multidisciplinary approach. We have established a line of research to study patterns of brain activity, in terms of synchronization of the cellular activities within brain networks, and how these patterns relate to specific cognitive functions and to brain pathologies. Our line of research is based on the notion that brain function results from the transient coordinated activity of neuronal networks in diverse brain regions. Our long-term goal is to understand the functional role of brain rhythms in information processing, and our short-term goals aim at the investigation of the variability and complexity of the brain patterns that we record with various methods in humans and animals. Our approach in this proposal represents an attempt to understand functional implications of fluctuations in neuronal activity in terms of the characterization of spatio temporal dynamics of brain activity. Our studies will help in the current controversy about randomness/variability versus periodic rhythmicity in information processing by natural neural systems.