Many studies have suggested that the brain is in a so-called self-organized critical state (Bak, 1996; Chialvo and Bak, 1999; Linkenkaer-Hansen et al., 2001; Beggs and Plenz, 2003; Chialvo, 2004, 2007, 2010; Poil et al., 2008; He et al., 2010;
Overview of self-organized criticality (SOC)
There are many articles about self-organized criticality (SOC). I have here collected links to some of my online articles on SOC. These articles contain many references, which should lead you further in your study of SOC. General overview articles Introduction
Article: Fast network oscillations in vitro exhibit a slow decay of temporal auto-correlations
Poil, S.-S., Jansen, R., van Aerde, K., Timmerman, J., Brussaard, A. B., Mansvelder, H. D. and Linkenkaer-Hansen, K. (2011), Fast network oscillations in vitro exhibit a slow decay of temporal auto-correlations. European Journal of Neuroscience, 33: no. doi: 10.1111/j.1460-9568.2011.07748.x
Article: Critical-State Dynamics of Avalanches and Oscillations Jointly Emerge from Balanced Excitation/Inhibition in Neuronal Networks
Simon-Shlomo Poil*, Richard Hardstone*, Huibert D. Mansvelder, Klaus Linkenkaer-Hansen The Journal of Neuroscience, 18 July 2012, 32(29): 9817-9823; doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5990-11.2012 Criticality has gained widespread interest in neuroscience as an attractive framework for understanding the character and functional implications of