Collective Behavior From Cells to Societies: Interdisciplinary Research Team Summaries (2015) / Chapter Skim
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IDR Team Summary 9: How do general principles of cooperation and competition influence our understanding of brain networks?
IDR Team Summary 9: How do general principles of cooperation and competition influence our understanding of brain networks?
Pages 99-106
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From page 99... ...
Previous studies of functional interactions between large-scale brain networks have identified broad neural networks that operate in apparent competition and cooperation with one another. For example, some networks support internally oriented processing, and others mediate attention to external stimuli.
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From page 100... ...
These approaches, if carefully developed in unison, have the potential to not only shed light on contributions to individual differences in behavior, but also on how the flexibility of normal brain functions is disrupted in neurological disorders. Key Questions Can the brain generate complex functions that transcend those of specialized networks by virtue of the patterns of cooperation and competition of overlapping functional networks?
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From page 101... ...
Weiler, University of California, Santa Cruz IDR TEAM SUMMARY -- GROUP 9 Nicholas Weiler, NAKFI Science Writing Scholar University of California, Santa Cruz IDR Team 9 was asked to explore how general principles of cooperation and competition can inform the scientific community's understanding of brain networks. The team examined examples of cooperative and competitive interactions across multiple scales of brain activity -- from competitive principles governing the wiring of neural circuits to cooperative interactions between functionally specialized brain regions that ultimately let an organism perceive the world and produce adaptive behavior.
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From page 102... ...
Network Connectivity and Psychiatric Disease Human neuroimaging experiments suggest that at a broad scale, the brain is organized into a so-called "small-world" architecture, in which tightly interconnected local networks are linked to one another by rarer long-distance connections. This network organization enables highly efficient information transfer and may also keep network activity in a stable, balanced state.
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From page 103... ...
. The team proposed examining mid-scale network mechanisms of cooperation and conflict in the context of three potential classes of mechanism -- resource competition, plasticity regulation, and circuit repair -- which may form the basis for modulation of synaptic plasticity and maladaptive consequences for network activity.
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From page 104... ...
Specifically, they proposed using magnetic resonance spectroscopy and positron emission tomography to measure local dynamics of creatine and glucose levels respectively in the brain. Microlevel approaches: The team proposed measuring the distribution and activity of mitochondria within neurons and around synapses, as well as local metabolite profiles measured under different dietary parameters.
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From page 105... ...
In addition, existing drugs can inhibit proteases such as MMP9 and allow retrospective analyses of patients to determine the optimal degree of structural plasticity that balances circuit repair and stability. Microlevel approaches: The team proposed live imaging of the distribution of matrix and glial scar cells after brain damage in mice through thinned skulls, combined with ion current visualization to track neural activity.
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From page 106... ...
In addition, from a purely scientific perspective, the team argued, this research strategy would allow neuroscientists to finally bridge the profound gap between human neuroimaging and the mechanisms underlying brain function.
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