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Original Research ARTICLE

This article is part of a Research Topic

Neural synchrony in cortical networks: history, concept and current status

Peter J. Uhlhaas^1,2, Gordon Pipa^1,3, Bruss Lima¹, Lucia Melloni¹, Sergio Neuenschwander¹, Danko Nikolić^1,3 and Wolf Singer^1,3*

Department of Neurophysiology, Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Laboratory for Neurophysiology and Neuroimaging, Department of Psychiatry, Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Following the discovery of context-dependent synchronization of oscillatory neuronal responses in the visual system, the role of neural synchrony in cortical networks has been expanded to provide a general mechanism for the coordination of distributed neural activity patterns. In the current paper, we present an update of the status of this hypothesis through summarizing recent results from our laboratory that suggest important new insights regarding the mechanisms, function and relevance of this phenomenon. In the first part, we present recent results derived from animal experiments and mathematical simulations that provide novel explanations and mechanisms for zero and nero-zero phase lag synchronization. In the second part, we shall discuss the role of neural synchrony for expectancy during perceptual organization and its role in conscious experience. This will be followed by evidence that indicates that in addition to supporting conscious cognition, neural synchrony is abnormal in major brain disorders, such as schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorders. We conclude this paper with suggestions for further research as well as with critical issues that need to be addressed in future studies.

Keywords:

synchrony, oscillations, gamma, cortex, cognition

Citation:

Uhlhaas PJ, Pipa G, Lima B, Melloni L, Neuenschwander S, Nikolić D and Singer W (2009). Neural synchrony in cortical networks: history, concept and current status. Front. Integr. Neurosci. 3:17. doi: 10.3389/neuro.07.017.2009

Received:

04 March 2009;

Paper pending published:

20 March 2009;

Accepted:

11 July 2009;

Published online:

30 July 2009.

Edited by:

Rui M. Costa, Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Portugal

Reviewed by:

Miles A. Whittington, Newcastle University, UK
Shih-Chieh Lin, Duke University Medical Center, USA

© 2009 Uhlhaas, Pipa, Lima, Melloni, Neuenschwander, Nikolić and Singer. This is an open-access article subject to an exclusive license agreement between the authors and the Frontiers Research Foundation, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original authors and source are credited.

*Correspondence:

Wolf Singer, Department of Neurophysiology, Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Deutschordenstr. 46, Frankfurt am Main 60528, Germany. e-mail: singer@mpih-frankfurt.mpg.de