Synchrony occurs when a group of neurons all fire action potentials at roughly the same time.
Synchrony is thought to play a role in grouping together neurons in time that represent different features of the same object.
It is an example of one of the simplest emergent phenomena in the brain, and is enabled among other things by neural oscilation at characteristic frequencies.
References
Can you explain this synchrony / zero phase lag thing?Can you explain what it actually means? "zero pahse lag synchronsity"How could the brain achieve such synchrony?https://claude.ai/chat/f14daca9-af62-447d-bdb1-681ea72f4029
Phase lag: In oscillating systems, phase lag refers to a delay between two related signals. If one signal lags behind another, they're out of phase - Neurons or neural populations are oscillating (firing) at certain frequencies - Zero phase lag synchrony means these neurons are firing at exactly the same time - Their activity peaks and troughs align perfectly - Information in different parts of the system is processed simultaneously - There's no delay in information transfer between synchronized components --- - Oscillatory neural activity: - Brain regions naturally produce rhythmic activity at various frequencies - These oscillations can serve as a timing mechanism for coordinating neural firing - Coupled oscillators: - Neural populations can act as coupled oscillators, influencing each other's timing - This coupling can lead to synchronization across distributed networks - Recurrent connections: - Feedback loops within neural circuits allow for rapid adjustments in timing - This can help maintain synchrony even in the presence of small delays - Thalamic pacemaking: - The thalamus may act as a central pacemaker, coordinating timing across cortical areas - It could help reset and synchronize neural activity across regions - Cross-frequency coupling: - Interactions between different frequency bands of neural oscillations - May allow for coordination of timing across different temporal scales - Predictive processing: - The brain might anticipate and compensate for expected delays in signal transmission - This could create an illusion of perfect synchrony even if small delays exist - Emergent properties: - Synchrony might emerge from the collective behavior of large neural populations - Individual neurons don't need to be perfectly synchronized for the overall system to exhibit synchronous behavior --- - Electromagnetic fields generated by neurons: - Yes, neural activity does generate electromagnetic fields - These fields are the basis for measurements like EEG and MEG - Non-local effects: - There is ongoing research and debate about whether these electromagnetic fields can influence neurons that are not directly connected - This concept is sometimes referred to as "ephaptic coupling" or "field effects" - Potential for long-range synchronization: - If electromagnetic fields do influence distant neurons, this could indeed contribute to synchronization across distributed networks - It could provide a mechanism for rapid, widespread coordination of neural activity