Spatiotemporal patterns of activity in cerebral neural networks: a dynamical systems perspective

The simultaneous recording of the time series
formed by the timing of neuronal discharges
produced by a cell assembly reveals important
features of the dynamic of information processing
in the brain. Experimental evidence of firing
sequences with precision of few milliseconds over
intervals lasting hundreds of milliseconds have
suggested that particular topologies of
converging/diverging chains of neuronal
assemblies may propagate the activity with the
necessary time accuracy. Simulation studies of
critical phases of brain development suggest the
emergence of stimulus-driven cell assemblies that
will form the 'wiring' of the adult brain out of
randomly connected large scale networks. These
results are presented from the viewpoint of
dynamical systems and chaotic attractors.