title: Auditory Power-Law Activation Avalanches Exhibit a Fundamental Computational Ground State.
abstract: The cochlea provides a biological information-processing paradigm that we are only beginning to understand in its full complexity. Our work reveals an interacting network of strongly nonlinear dynamical nodes, on which even a simple sound input triggers subnetworks of activated elements that follow power-law size statistics ("avalanches"). From dynamical systems theory, power-law size distributions relate to a fundamental ground state of biological information processing. Learning destroys these power laws. These results strongly modify the models of mammalian sound processing and provide a novel methodological perspective for understanding how the brain processes information.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neuroinformatics and Institute of Computational Science, University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Ruedi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Stoop
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neuroinformatics and Institute of Computational Science, University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Florian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gomez
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D003051:Cochlea / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009415:Nerve Net; D017711:Nonlinear Dynamics; D013598:Systems Theory