Critical exponents of neuronal avalanches in a stochastic model of Wilson-Cowan neuronal populations

Abstract

Many conflicting theories have been proposed on the dynamics of neuronal avalanches. Recent experimental studies show inconsistent results with mean-field directed percolation widely believed to be the universal mechanism for avalanche formation. In this work, we do in silico analysis of one such study by Fontenele et al. (2019) showing a common trend with the critical exponents across multiple experimental recordings. We investigate the emergence of different critical exponents in neuronal populations at different chemical configurations using the stochastic Wilson-Cowan model and obtain a similar trend in our simulations which is also consistent with directed percolation. These results imply a uniform relationship between the properties of neuronal avalanches that spans many types of neuronal populations even in different chemical environments. Results also increase our confidence that our simple stochastic model for neuronal dynamics can be useful for developing our understanding of neuron dynamics.