Functional modulation of power-law distribution in visual perception.
Neuronal activities have recently been reported to exhibit power-law scaling behavior. However, it has not been demonstrated that the power-law component can play an important role in human perceptual functions. Here, we demonstrate that the power spectrum of magnetoencephalograph recordings of brain activity varies in coordination with perception of subthreshold visual stimuli. We observed that perceptual performance could be better explained by modulation of the power-law component than by modulation of the peak power in particular narrow frequency ranges. The results suggest that the brain operates in a state of self-organized criticality, modulating the power spectral exponent of its activity to optimize its internal state for response to external stimuli.
Laboratory for Biological Complex Systems, Department of Complexity Science and Engineering, Graduate School of Frontier Science, The University of Tokyo, 5-1-5, Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa-Shi, Chiba, Japan.
Masanori
M
Shimono
Takashi
T
Owaki
Kaoru
K
Amano
Keiichi
K
Kitajo
Tsunehiro
T
Takeda
D000328:Adult; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004056:Differential Threshold / Q000502:physiology*; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D015225:Magnetoencephalography / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008959:Models, Neurological; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*