title: Neural variability: friend or foe?
abstract: Although we may not realize it, our brain function varies markedly from moment to moment such that our brain responses exhibit substantial variability across trials even in response to a simple repeating stimulus. Should we care about such within-subject variability? Are there developmental, cognitive, and clinical consequences to having a brain that is more or less variable/noisy? Although neural variability seems to be beneficial for learning, excessive levels of neural variability are apparent in individuals with different clinical disorders. We propose that measuring distinct types of neural variability in autism and other disorders is likely to reveal crucial insights regarding their neuropathology. We further discuss the importance of studying neural variability more generally across development and aging in humans.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Ben Gurion University, PO Box 653, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel. Electronic address: dinshi@bgu.ac.il.
authors.forename: Ilan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Dinstein
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Center for Neural Science, New York University, 6 Washington Place, New York, NY 10003, USA.
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Heeger
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA.
authors.forename: Marlene
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Behrmann
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology; D001921:Brain / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans