Evidence map›Paper›PMID 24788139›Full record

ReviewTrends in cognitive sciences2014

Scale-free brain activity: past, present, and future.

Biyu J He

Open access · greenAbstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Trends in cognitive sciences, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 382 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
382citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
17.2field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

382 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 865 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  6. Task-Related Aperiodic EEG (1/f) Activity in Autism.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2026
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  12. Shared spatial and temporal principles govern connectome dynamics across timescales.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026
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322 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.

Biyu J HeNational Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA. Electronic address: biyu.he@nih.gov.
National Institutes of Health · US

Funding

Intramural NIH HHS Z99 NS999999
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Brain activity observed at many spatiotemporal scales exhibits a 1/f-like power spectrum, including neuronal membrane potentials, neural field potentials, noninvasive electroencephalography (EEG), magnetoencephalography (MEG), and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) signals. A 1/f-like power spectrum is indicative of arrhythmic brain activity that does not contain a predominant temporal scale (hence, 'scale-free'). This characteristic of scale-free brain activity distinguishes it from brain oscillations. Although scale-free brain activity and brain oscillations coexist, our understanding of the former remains limited. Recent research has shed light on the spatiotemporal organization, functional significance, and potential generative mechanisms of scale-free brain activity, as well as its developmental and clinical relevance. A deeper understanding of this prevalent brain signal should provide new insights into, and analytical tools for, cognitive neuroscience.

Indexed as

Brain MappingAnimalsBrainBrain WavesElectroencephalographyHumansMagnetic Resonance ImagingMagnetoencephalographyModels, Neurologicalarrhythmicbrain dynamicsbrain oscillationsneural field potentialspower-law distributionscale-free brain activityscale invariance

Identifiers

PMID24788139
PMCPMC4149861
OpenAlexW2128144507

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.