Does the 1/f frequency-scaling of brain signals reflect
self-organized critical states?
Claude Bedard, Helmut Kroger and Alain Destexhe
Physical Review Letters 97: 118102, 2006.
Abstract
Many complex systems display self-organized critical states
characterized by 1/f frequency scaling of power spectra. Global
variables such as the electroencephalogram, scale as 1/f, which could
be the sign of self-organized critical states in neuronal activity.
By analyzing simultaneous recordings of global and neuronal
activities, we confirm the 1/f scaling of global variables for
selected frequency bands, but show that neuronal activity is not
consistent with critical states. We propose a model of 1/f scaling
which does not rely on critical states, and which is testable
experimentally.
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