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Intriguing coexistence of synchrony and asynchrony in the brain: Comment on "Chimera states in neuronal networks: A review" by Soumen Majhi, Bidesh K. Bera, Dibakar Ghosh, Matjaẑ Perc.

I. Omelchenko,A. Zakharova

Published 2019 in Physics of Life Reviews

ABSTRACT

The collective behavior in networks is of great current interest with a plethora of applications in nature and technology [1]. For a long period complete and cluster synchronization in networks have been intensively studied, and a special attention has recently been paid to chimera states where incoherent and coherent oscillations occur in spatially coexisting domains. Especially surprising was the first observation of this symmetry-breaking behavior for identical elements and symmetric coupling configurations [2,3]. One of the most promising applications of chimera states is the study of complex partially synchronized patterns in neural networks. Synchronization and desynchronization of neural activity is essential for understanding the functionality of a healthy brain as well as neurological disorders, such as epileptic seizures [4–6] and Parkinson’s disease [7]. The synchronization patterns of neural activity depend on two main factors: the structural connectivity, and the type of individual neuron dynamics. Moreover, numerous parameters such as signal transmission delays, random fluctuations, strength of the interactions, inhomogeneities, are relevant for explaining the synchronization alterations. For instance, during an epileptic seizure the electrical activity in the brain is excessive and synchronous, and studying chimera states can provide further insight into the underlying mechanisms of the initiation or termination of epileptic seizures. In the Parkinson’s disease, the synchronization of neural activity is also treated as pathological, and, therefore, predicting synchronization as well as finding new mechanisms of its control are promising. Before the invention of chimera states, the partial synchronization of the neural activity was addressed as bump states [8]. Since 2002, the scientific community has been paying a lot of attention to the phenomenon of chimera states, going far beyond the simple phase oscillator networks. The first review article on chimera states by Mark J. Panaggio and Daniel M. Abrams appeared in 2015 [9], followed by the review by Eckehard Schöll in 2016 [10]. Analytical study of chimera states appeared to be a challenging issue and current achievements on the mathematics behind chimeras are summarized in the review by Oleh Omel’chenko [11]. A recent article by Anna Zakharova and Eckehard Schöll accessible to a broad audience discusses the aspect of control and the importance of chimeras for the study of brain networks [12].

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