title: A computational role for bistability and traveling waves in motor cortex.
abstract: Adaptive changes in behavior require rapid changes in brain states yet the brain must also remain stable. We investigated two neural mechanisms for evoking rapid transitions between spatiotemporal synchronization patterns of beta oscillations (13-30 Hz) in motor cortex. Cortex was modeled as a sheet of neural oscillators that were spatially coupled using a center-surround connection topology. Manipulating the inhibitory surround was found to evoke reliable transitions between synchronous oscillation patterns and traveling waves. These transitions modulated the simulated local field potential in agreement with physiological observations in humans. Intermediate levels of surround inhibition were also found to produce bistable coupling topologies that supported both waves and synchrony. State-dependent perturbation between bistable states produced very rapid transitions but were less reliable. We surmise that motor cortex may thus employ state-dependent computation to achieve very rapid changes between bistable motor states when the demand for speed exceeds the demand for accuracy.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychiatry, The University of New South Wales Sydney, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Stewart
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Heitmann
authors.forename: Pulin
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Breakspear