Fig. 3: Comparison between critical and non-critical dynamics. | Nature Communications

Fig. 3: Comparison between critical and non-critical dynamics.

From: Critical dynamics arise during structured information presentation within embodied in vitro neuronal networks

Fig. 3

a) Illustration of the course of the expected change in the DCC measure when transitioning between near-critical and non-critical regimes. b) Comparison of the shape collapse error while scaling avalanche shapes in 2 sample recording sessions. Scaled avalanches across a range of durations show little error around the polynomial fit in the upper row (indicative of a near-critical regime) while this error increases significantly in the data represented at the bottom row (indicative of a non-critical regime). c) Effect of branching ratio (BR) on activity propagation through a network over time. In critical regimes, BR = 1.0 and, on average, activity neither saturates nor decays across time. d–f) DCC, BR, and SC error extracted for all the recordings and compared between Gameplay and Rest. The illustrated trend in all measures supports the conclusion of the system tuning near criticality during Gameplay. The Gameplay recordings display DCC and SC error values closer to 0 and branching ratios closer to 1; features which are missing in the Rest recordings. Box plots show interquartile range, with bars demonstrating 1.5X interquartile range, the line marks the median and the black triangle marks the mean. Error bands, 1 SE. *** indicates p < 5 × 10−4 and **** indicates p < 5 × 10−5. g) Summary of the key characteristics of a critical system compared between all Rest and Gameplay sessions as well as the corresponding performance level in terms of the observed H/M ratio. Error bars, SEM. **** indicates p < 5 × 10−5. The sample sizes of the box and bar plots are equal to the number of independent Gameplay recordings (n = 192) and Rest recordings (n = 116). Alexander-Govern approximation test with p = 7.836e − 06, p = 5.667e − 13, p = 2.460e − 07, and p = 3.356e − 06 for DCC, BR, SC error, and H/M ratio in Gameplay vs Rest. h) A weakly significant negative correlation was found between DCC and the neuronal culture performance in terms of H/M ratio (r = − 0.13, p < 0.05, Pearson Correlation test). i) A strongly significant positive association was observed between BR and H/M ratio (r = 0.24, p < 0.00005, Pearson Correlation test). j) A strongly significant negative correlation was found between SC error and H/M ratio (r = − 0.17, p < 0.005, Pearson Correlation test). Shades represent the 95% confidence intervals. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.

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