Noise in the Brain

In this episode we discussed the concept of neural noise or spontaneous brain activity. Does it have a purpose and how does it influence cognitive functions?

What is noise in the brain ("pink noise", "1/f noise")?

An review by Biyu J. He (2014) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364661314000850#:~:text=Scale%2Dfree%20brain%20activity%20refers,spectra%20corresponding%20to%20brain%20oscillations.

Quanta article- overview of noise in the brain:

https://www.quantamagazine.org/brains-background-noise-may-hold-clues-to-persistent-mysteries-20210208/

What could noise mean? How is it related to cognitive functions?

Noise as a measure of consciousness (Lendner et al., 2020)

https://elifesciences.org/articles/55092

Decreased temporal precision in Schizophrenia is related to increased neural noise (Wolff et al., 2021- Georg Northoff)

It’s in the Timing: Reduced Temporal Precision in Neural Activity of Schizophrenia | Cerebral Cortex | Oxford Academic (oup.com)

Noise increases with age (Voytek et al., 2015)

https://www.jneurosci.org/content/35/38/13257

Quanta article- Neural noise and the uncertainty of memories

https://www.quantamagazine.org/neural-noise-shows-the-uncertainty-of-our-memories-20220118/#:~:text=To%20Clayton%20Curtis%2C%20a%20professor,the%20encoded%20perceptions%20and%20memories.&text=More%20likely%2C%20the%20brain%20is%20combining%20information%20from%20populations%20of%20neurons.

Original paper (Li et al., 2021- Clayton Curtis) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S089662732100619X?via%3Dihub

How does "sensorial noise" (noisy sensory stimuli e.g. visual, auditory) affect brain activity and behaviour?

“Dissociating the Effect of Noise on Sensory Processing and Overall Decision Difficulty”

https://www.jneurosci.org/content/jneuro/31/7/2663.full.pdf