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Computational neuroscience

Electric dreams

Nature Reviews Neuroscience volume 6, page 3 (2005)Cite this article

The large-scale computer model contains 65,400 spiking neurons with almost 5 million connections. The neuronal properties were based on physiological data from the cat thalamocortical system, including firing properties and intracellular channel dynamics, and the model includes areas of primary and secondary visual cortex and regions of the dorsal and reticular thalamus. The simulated cortex consists of three layers — supragranular (layers 2/3), layer 4 and infragranular (layers 5/6) — and intracortical and thalamocortical connections are reproduced in detail. Importantly, the model also includes neuromodulation, modelled as widespread changes in conductances.

During wakefulness, the cerebral cortex shows patterns of spontaneous activity that are reflected in the EEG as fast, low-voltage activity, and individual neurons fire spontaneously and irregularly. Hill and Tononi's model reproduces this state, including aspects of its response to visual stimulation (for example, the evoked response shows gamma synchronization). In addition, like the cortex, the model can switch into a slow-wave sleep state that includes a bimodal membrane potential distribution with a depolarized up-state, during which neurons fire more rapidly, and a hyperpolarized, silent down-state.

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References

ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

  1. Hill, S. & Tononi, G. Modeling sleep and wakefulness in the thalamocortical system. J. Neurophysiol. 10 November 2004 (10.1152/jn.00915.2004)

FURTHER READING

  1. Hobson, J. A. & Pace-Schott, E. F. The cognitive neuroscience of sleep: neuronal systems, consciousness and learning. Nature Rev. Neurosci. 3, 679–693 (2002)

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Authors
  1. Rachel Jones
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Jones, R. Electric dreams. Nat Rev Neurosci 6, 3 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn1592

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn1592

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