title: 1/f noise outperforms white noise in sensitizing baroreflex function in the human brain.
abstract: We show that externally added 1/f noise more effectively sensitizes the baroreflex centers in the human brain than white noise. We examined the compensatory heart rate response to a weak periodic signal introduced via venous blood pressure receptors while adding 1/f or white noise with the same variance to the brain stem through bilateral cutaneous stimulation of the vestibular afferents. In both cases, this noisy galvanic vestibular stimulation optimized covariance between the weak input signals and the heart rate responses. However, the optimal level with 1/f noise was significantly lower than with white noise, suggesting a functional benefit of 1/f noise for neuronal information transfer in the brain.
authors.affiliation: Educational Physiology Laboratory, Graduate School of Education, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan.
authors.forename: Rika
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Soma
authors.forename: Daichi
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nozaki
authors.forename: Shin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kwak
authors.forename: Yoshiharu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
mesh_terms: D017704:Baroreflex / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D004562:Electrocardiography; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D009622:Noise