Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38470471›Full record

ArticleeLife2024

Neural criticality from effective latent variables.

Mia C Morrell, Ilya Nemenman, Audrey Sederberg

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in eLife, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
14citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

14 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Power Laws in Empirical Eigenvalue Spectra.Entropy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026
    Article
  3. Article
  4. Multiscale Organization of Neural Networks in a 3D Bioprinted Matrix.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2025
    Article
  5. Article
  6. Stereotyped Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Spontaneous Activity in Visual Cortex Prior to Eye Opening.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2025
    Article
  7. Structured Dynamics in the Algorithmic Agent.Entropy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025
    Article
  8. Measurement effects on critical scaling in neural systems.Frontiers in computational neuroscience · 2025
    Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Fluctuating landscapes and heavy tails in animal behavior.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2023
    Article
  13. Article
  14. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Mia C MorrellDepartment of Physics, New York University, New York, United States.
Ilya NemenmanDepartment of Physics, Department of Biology, Initiative in Theory and Modeling of Living Systems, Emory University, Atlanta, United States.
Audrey SederbergDepartment of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, United States.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4458-3773

Funding

Vocal motor control and sensorimotor learning - behavior, muscles, and neuronsR01NS084844 · NINDS · EMORY UNIVERSITY · PI SOBER, SAMUEL · 2013 to 2023
$3.8M
Investigating the microcircuit determinants of neural population activity through comparative analysis of latent dynamics across cortical areas in the mouseRF1MH130413 · NIMH · UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA · PI SEDERBERG, AUDREY · 2022 to 2022
$1.2M
NIMH NIH HHS 1RF1MH130413NIMH NIH HHS RF1 MH130413NINDS NIH HHS 2R01NS084844NINDS NIH HHS R01 NS084844
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Observations of power laws in neural activity data have raised the intriguing notion that brains may operate in a critical state. One example of this critical state is 'avalanche criticality', which has been observed in various systems, including cultured neurons, zebrafish, rodent cortex, and human EEG. More recently, power laws were also observed in neural populations in the mouse under an activity coarse-graining procedure, and they were explained as a consequence of the neural activity being coupled to multiple latent dynamical variables. An intriguing possibility is that avalanche criticality emerges due to a similar mechanism. Here, we determine the conditions under which latent dynamical variables give rise to avalanche criticality. We find that populations coupled to multiple latent variables produce critical behavior across a broader parameter range than those coupled to a single, quasi-static latent variable, but in both cases, avalanche criticality is observed without fine-tuning of model parameters. We identify two regimes of avalanches, both critical but differing in the amount of information carried about the latent variable. Our results suggest that avalanche criticality arises in neural systems in which activity is effectively modeled as a population driven by a few dynamical variables and these variables can be inferred from the population activity.

Indexed as

NeuronsZebrafishAnimalsBrainCerebral CortexHumansMicefine-tuninglatent dynamicsneural criticalityneurosciencenonephysics of living systemspower laws

Identifiers

PMID38470471
PMCPMC10957169

What OpenQuestion holds

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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.